Just Tell Him
by musicmadnessXP
Summary: The classic story of two Pokémon trainers who travel the Kanto region to become Pokemon masters from a different perspective! (There are sexual situations in this story, please be warned.) *yaoi* *lemon* *Red X Green*
1. Chapter 1

_**Hi friends. I know that I haven't posted any stories on here in YEARS and that I have a habit of never finishing stories, but I promise that this story will be different! :) I just started college, so there may be a time where a chapter may become a little late, but I promise that this story will be completed! My plan is to try to post an update every Monday so that you have something to look forward to on those dreadful Mondays if you end up enjoying this story. :) I am very open to critique, so please help me make this story better! Enjoy!**_

 _ **P.S. I don't do warnings for my stories. I shouldn't have to warn people over love. :))) So no disclaimers.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 _"I… I did it… I finally made it to the top… I am the champion… Green Oak, Pokémon League Champion of the Kanto region! Nobody out there can defeat me!"_ At least, that's what I thought. I was so caught up in my self-proclamation that I had completely forgotten about the fact that I was about to face an opponent like no other in just a few short minutes.

Just as suddenly as my reign began, I felt my heart sink as I heard the door behind me open. I was facing the back of my chamber, but I knew exactly who was there to challenge me for the championship title.

"Red.", I turned around, "You're too late. I've already defeated the Elite Four and became the Pokémon League champion! You don't stand a chance at being the champion anymore. Get ready to battle the strongest Pokémon trainer in the entire world!"

"…", Red didn't reply. He just pulled out a Pokéball and sent out his first Pokémon.

 _"God damn it, why doesn't he ever fucking answer me!?",_ I sent out my first Pokémon and the battle began.

I'm gonna spare you the details and just let you know that the battle, obviously, ended in my defeat.

"No…", I was in shock, "There's no way that I lost. I should have won this battle. I'm supposed to be…the best trainer in the world…and I lost…" Red took a step forward, about to comfort me, but was interrupted when the door my – …no…his chamber opened. In walked Professor Oak, my grandfather.

"Red! Congratulations!", he beamed, "You've done it! You've become the Pokémon League Champion of the Kanto region! I'm so proud of you!" He then turned to face me. "Green…", he began, "What a shame. I'm very disappointed in you. You must learn how to properly treat your Pokémon." I turned to face away from Gramps. One of the worst feelings in the world is to listen to your own grandfather give praise to your rival and then voice his disappointment towards you. I was crushed.

I could see that Red was looking right at me in the corner of my eye. Now I know that he was very sorry, but at the time I was only able to justify myself. I thought that Red was out to take everything I had. I mean, first it was my Raticate, then my pride, and then finally the biggest accomplishment I've ever made in my entire life.

Ever since Red and I began our journeys as Pokémon trainers we were rivals, and it was never friendly competition, at least from my point of view. The most upsetting part of our rivalry was that I always wanted to be friends with Red. The fact that I hated him, and I mean _hated_ him, was completely due to a huge flaw in my personality. I was completely full of myself. I needed to be better than everyone around me, including Red. As if that weren't bad enough, it turned out that Red was way better than me at almost everything, especially as a Pokémon trainer.

Red and I were best friends until the week before we left for our journey around Kanto. We would always hang out at each other's houses, play out in Route 1 away from the tall grass together, and everything else in between. We were still competitive back then, probably because of me, but it was way less than it became when we left on our journey.

As we drew closer to the day that we would receive our first Pokémon from Gramps we were filled with excitement. We would talk for days about which Pokémon we were gonna pick when we got to Gramps's lab. It seemed that the both of us were completely torn on which Pokémon we would choose.

As those days progressed, we began to become more competitive than ever before. The reason for this spawning rivalry was because we began to talk about becoming the Pokémon League champion. It was then that we realized that one of us would have to be better than the other to gain the title.

I was one-hundred percent sure that it would be me who would gain the title. We started to argue every day over this nonsense to the point where Red would usually just get up and leave hours earlier than he usually would.

The day before we left for our journey I had time to think alone out in the area of Route 1 that Red and I would hang out in. My mind was filled with thoughts of Red. For the first time in weeks I thought about Red rather than the Pokémon League and our journey that was about to unfold. I realized that our friendship was the most important thing I had in my life and how much it would suck if our friendship were to fall apart over this new rivalry.

My mind went to really deep places that it had never gone before. I thought about Red beyond what would be considered normal to my standards. He was always such a great person. He was calm and reserved, caring for his friends and family, and overall just a really great person.

I was suddenly brought back to reality when I began to think about how beautiful his eyes were.

" _No…",_ I thought, _"But he's a boy… This isn't right… I need to end this. It's the only way. I can't let something like this get in the way… I need time alone to think."_

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard some rustling in the bushes. Out walked Red. I knew what I had to do.

"Hey Red.", I said, "I was just about to go looking for you."

"…"

" _Silence. What else is new?",_ I thought, "You know, it's only polite to actually respond to others when they try to talk to you.", I snapped.

"…", more silence.

"I just wish that you would actually respond to me when I try to talk to you.", I began again, "It always feels like I'm in some one-sided conversation whenever I try to talk to you!"

"…", Red looked shocked.

"Fine, well, starting tomorrow we're gonna be rivals anyway, so we might as well break off this deadbeat friendship anyways.", I heard my voice crack as I held back my tears.

"…", Red turned pale. All his bright skin flushed to an almost gray color.

"As of right now we aren't friends anymore.", a single tear ran down my right cheek, "We're only rivals from now on." I removed the red bracelet that Red gave to me when we were younger and threw it to the ground. I ran off to leave a devastated friend all alone in Route 1.

" _I will be the strongest Pokémon trainer in the world."_

* * *

 ** _Please favorite, follow, and rate if you'd like! Thanks for reading! -Jack  
_**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Hey friends! I decided to update early so that you have more to read the first week that this story is out. And I changed the rating to M because I realized that there would be some descriptive sexual scenes in this story. I also added a warning about this in the description. Enjoy! :)**_

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 _In Route 1 there is a small opening among the trees. Red and I discovered it when we were young boys. We would go out to play with each other almost every day. Since it was dangerous to play in the tall grass of Route 1 without having a Pokémon with you, we would go through a small, cleared out path in the trees a distance behind my house. After a few moments of walking through this path, we would reach a serene area with small amounts of sunlight beaming through the trees above. It was a great place to relax and reminisce about the past or talk about the future._

" _Green.", I heard Red. It was startling because Red usually never talks._

" _Yeah?", I replied, confusion clearly in my voice._

" _I made you this.", I looked in Red's hand and saw a red bracelet. It was woven into an intricate pattern with lots of thread._

" _Wow.", I was stunned, "You made this all by yourself?"_

" _Yeah. I've seen my mom make stuff like this all the time.", he responded. I'm pretty sure that's the longest sentence he has ever said in his entire life._

 _I had no idea what to say._

" _It's to represent our friendship.", he finally said._

 _I realized right then, tears welling up in my eyes, that I needed to return the favor._

* * *

I woke up early the next morning. The clock next to my bed read 6:45am. I had my alarm set to 8:30am.

 _"God damn it.",_ I thought, _"I don't have to be up for another two hours."_

I just wanted to get started on my Pokémon journey so that I could get my mind off of Red. Of course I was wide awake at the thought of Red and what had happened the day before, so I had to spend the next two hours thinking about him.

 _"Today was supposed to be the day that I could finally start to get my mind off of him…",_ I sighed.

Since I was up so early I decided to take a bath rather than a shower. I figured that I might as well relax for the next couple of hours instead of getting a shower at the last second like I usually did.

I walked down the hall and looked out the window. It was still dark outside, but I could see Red's house from where I was. I saw that Red's light was still off.

 _"Hmpf. Glad to see that he's getting enough sleep.",_ I scoffed.

I walked away from the window and into the bathroom. I turned the water all the way up. I wanted to take a nice, hot bath to wash away all of yesterday's filth. Plus it would probably be less frequently that I would take a nice relaxing bath while on my journey around Kanto.

I removed my black tank top that I wore in bed and then removed my basketball shorts. I looked at myself in the mirror. I was just standing there in my underwear. For the first time in my life I was doubting my appearance. It isn't very often that a ten-year-old boy begins to question his appearance, but I guess I'm considered an "early bloomer" when you compare me to other guys.

Even though I was an early bloomer, I wasn't necessarily a step ahead when considering body development yet. I had a thin frame, pale skin, you could lightly see my ribs, and I had very skinny arms. I looked at my face. My eyes were a mossy green. Nothing significant. Most people hear that you have green eyes and expect to see super bright, vivid green that penetrates through your body, but my eyes were basically glorified brown. They were nothing significant; a tease.

After my episode of random self-pity, I removed my underwear and entered the bathtub. The water was searing hot. _Perfect._

I spent a good ten minutes enjoying the hot water, my mind completely empty. I was almost on the brink of falling asleep right there in the bath before something new caught my attention…

Suddenly my mind began to function again. I started to think about Red and my lowered self-esteem from earlier. I began to compare myself to him. My mossy green eyes to his bright flame-red eyes. I thought about his body compared to mine. My mind went to places that I would have never gone before. I thought about what Red probably looked like naked and how his body was superior to mine.

Suddenly I was brought back to reality by the worst possible thing that a pre-pubescent kid can imagine. I looked down and I had a full-on erection. Let's be honest, I had gotten plenty of erections as a child. Boys just naturally get them, but there was something different about this one. This one made my whole groin feel hot and I couldn't focus my attention on anything else. I reached down and felt my member.

 _"Wow. Rock-hard.",_ I thought. I had never felt something that intense before.

The tension kept on building up. I didn't know what to do about it. I could have waited it out, but I really didn't want to do that; I wanted relief immediately.

Suddenly I had an idea. I remembered talking to some older boys recently while I was out in Viridian City and they told me about how to…relieve yourself. I won't go into too much detail about what they told me, but I took their advice and figured that this would be a good time for it.

I reached down and grabbed my member again. I started to move my hand up and down, stroking my firm dick. Every time I reached the head I would feel a light wave of pleasure, and the closer to the tip I would get, the more intense the pleasure would be.

I could feel extreme tension building up at the base of my dick. I began to stroke faster, wave after wave of pleasure building up more and more tension deep in my groin.

Eventually something new started to happen. Every few strokes I would get a _huge_ wave of pleasure. These big waves would contribute even more to the tension building up inside of me.

I then reached a point where everything started to race. There was sweat pouring down my face, my heart was racing, and my teeth were clenched. I had to hold back any groans so that my sister wouldn't hear me. My breathing was super heavy, but restrained.

Finally, after one final wave of pleasure, all of the tension was released at once. My dick was throbbing as wave after wave of pleasure released itself from my body. My mind was spiraling as I experienced my first orgasm ever.

As the waves of pleasure subsided, I had been continuing to pump hard with my hand. All of the sudden, that pleasure that had felt so amazing mere seconds before had turned into way too much to handle. One would describe it as a sort of "tickle". Every time I brushed my hand against the head of my dick, I would get the feeling of a complete sensory overload almost like the feeling of someone brushing a feather duster against the sensitive bottoms of your feet.

I stopped pumping my hand and looked down to see that I had some white-ish goo floating around in the bath. I knew exactly what it was, but I was surprised nonetheless because I had been told that, at my age, there would probably not be any semen whenever I did this. There wasn't all that much of it, but it was there either way.

After all of that I was completely exhausted. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep again.

 _"…Just tell him…", a voice called out._

 _"Wha-? Who's there?", I called out._

 _"…", no response._

 _"Show yourself!", I yelled again, getting angry._

 _"…I'm you…", the voice finally responded._

 _"…What?", I asked out loud._

 _"…Just tell him…", tell who what?_

 _"Wait! Come back!", I yelled out, "I don't know what you want me to do!"_

 _"…Green…", I heard another voice this time, "Green, wake up."_

 _"No! Wait!", I called out, "I need to know!"_

 _"Green…", the second voice said again, "Green! Wake up!"_

I was jolted awake when I heard my sister knocking on the bathroom door.

"Green!", she shouted, "I know you're asleep in there! You need to get up and get ready to go to Grandpa's lab! Your alarm has been going off for ten minutes now!"

 _"Shit!",_ I ended up oversleeping.

I jumped out of the tub and quickly wrapped a towel around my waist. I ran down the hall and back into my bedroom where I got dressed. I put on a black t-shirt and purple jeans. I finished getting my stuff together before I left to go to Gramps's lab.

 _"Damn, it's 9:02.",_ I thought, _"I was supposed to be there at 9:00. Red's probably already there."_

I ran into the lab. I was surprised to see that there was nobody in there, not even a lab aide. Of course Red wasn't even there. He never wakes up in time for anything, so I have no idea why I was even worried that he would beat me to the lab.

I ended up waiting around in the lab for about ten minutes before Red showed up.

"Geez, you're late.", I said, "Gramps isn't here yet, so I guess it's fine."

"…", Red stood there for a few seconds before walking out.

 _"Where the hell is he going?",_ I thought, _"I swear if Gramps gets here and I have to wait again, I'm gonna have a stroke."_

I ended up sitting around in Gramps's lab for another ten minutes before Gramps finally showed up. I was about to voice my disgust about how Red still wasn't there, but then I noticed that right behind Gramps was him.

"Gramps! Where have you been!?", I asked, angry.

"Green, you really must learn to be more patient.", Gramps replied, "It's an important skill for any new Pokémon trainer to understand."

"Fine, whatever, let's just get this over with.", I snapped, anxious to receive my first Pokémon.

"Before you two are three Pokémon.", Gramps began, "They are Charmander, the fire-type Pokémon, Squirtle, the water-type Pokémon, and Bulbasaur, the grass-type Pokémon."

 _"Come on.",_ I thought, _"Get on with it."_

"Red!", Gramps suddenly said, "Go ahead and pick your Pokémon first."

"What!?", I snapped, "Why don't I get to pick first!?"

"Patience, Green.", Gramps said calmly, "You will get your chance to pick a Pokémon in due time. Remember what we just talked about."

"Fine.", I complied. Red and I had already planned out which Pokémon we were selecting anyways.

Red walked up to the three Pokéballs and picked up the one on the left.

"So, you want Charmander, the fire-type Pokémon, Red?", Gramps asked.

Red nodded.

"Good choice.", Gramps responded, "Okay, Green, now it's your turn to select a Pokémon."

"Finally!", I said. I walked up and picked up the Pokéball in the middle. "I wanted Squirtle anyways."

"Okay, now that both of you have chosen a Pokémon to accompany you, your journey is ready to unfold!", Gramps went on, "Now go forth and explore the Kanto region! Good luck to both of you!"

Red began to walk away pretty quickly after Gramps was finished talking.

 _"Wait, don't go yet!",_ I thought for some reason.

"Wait up, Red!", I shouted, "Let's have a battle before we head out! Let's see what these Pokémon are really capable of!"

Our battle began. Of course Red didn't know how to battle at all, so Gramps had to lead him through the entire thing.

 _"Okay, I'm gonna lower Red's Pokémon's defense so that I can get some hard hit in with mine",_ I thought.

"Alright, Squirtle! Use tail whip!", I shouted. Squirtle complied and landed a tail whip that made Red's Charmander lower its defenses.

I waited a minute for Red to command his Charmander to do something, but he just stood there silently.

"What's wrong?", I mocked him, "Too scared of losing?"

I still, to this day, don't understand how Red is able to do what happened next. Charmander turned to look at Red and somehow, just by looking into his eyes, knew exactly what Red wanted him to do. Red's Charmander then landed a hard-hitting scratch on my Squirtle.

 _"What?",_ I thought, _"How did he do that!?"_

My thoughts caused me to hesitate, which ended in Red's Pokémon landing another hit on mine.

"This doesn't look good.", I said out loud, "Squirtle, use tackle!"

Red's Charmander avoided Squirtle's attack and got in one final scratch on my Squirtle. Squirtle was out cold.

 _"I didn't even land a single hit…",_ I thought.

"You got lucky this time, Red!", I scoffed, "Smell ya later, Gramps!"

I left Gramps's lab and stopped at my house to see my sister, Daisy.

"Hey Green!", she said, surprised to see me, "I thought that you would've just left without a word. How did it go?"

"Fine.", I snapped. I need a town map.

"Geez, maybe you should be a little bit politer every once and a while.", she snapped back at me, "And something tells me that it didn't really go 'fine' either."

I groaned.

"What happened?", she asked me, "I'm here to help you."

"I don't wanna talk about it.", I grumbled.

"Well, maybe I'll give you a town map if you actually tell me.", she bribed.

"…Fine…", I complied, reluctantly.

I explained to Daisy pretty much the whole spiel about how I told Red that we aren't friends anymore and how he beat me in a battle, etc. Oddly, her face lit up, a reaction that I wasn't expecting.

"What?", I asked, "Why are you smiling?"

"Oh it's nothing.", she replied, chuckling, "You'll understand when you're older."

I groaned again, "Can I please have a town map now?"

"Yes, thank you for saying please!", she beamed, "That was very polite of you!"

"Yeah, whatever.", I grunted, "Smell ya later."

"Be nice to Red!", Daisy called out to me, "He's a good kid and just wants to be your friend!"

 _"Yeah… My friend…"_

* * *

 ** _Thanks for reading! :) -Jack_**


	3. Chapter 3

___**_**Hello again, friends! I have yet again changed the way that I will be doing this story. I decided that I'm just gonna post as frequently as I want 'cause I've really been on a roll the past few days. I'm basically just gonna make sure that I at LEAST post one new chapter a week, but if I end up writing more frequently, I'll just post chapters and I finish them. So here is the third chapter of this week! Enjoy! :)**_**_

 _ ** _ **P.S. This chapter has received an update as of Thursday, September 17th, 2015 due to the fact that I have been spelling Rattata incorrectly. It is now fixed and I will be updating more chapters to fix this issue.**_**_

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

 _Back when I was just a baby, Daisy's and my parents had to leave Pallet Town. I never learned what actually happened to them until around the time that I turned fifteen, but sometimes I honestly wish I hadn't found out. Either way, details set aside, my sister took care of me as a child until the day I left home to go on my adventure._

 _There was a day that is now permanently ingrained in my mind, especially after learning the truth about my parents. I went downstairs to grab something to drink. I was five years old at the time. I looked into the living room to see Daisy sitting on the couch, tears running down her face, the telephone laying on the floor._

" _Daisy?", I asked, confused, "What's wrong?"_

" _Oh, Green!", she was startled, "Oh, it's nothing, it's just, uh-."_

 _The amount of time Daisy took to think was really unsettling to me._

" _Come on!", I snapped, my voice cracking, "Tell me what's going on!"_

 _Finally, Daisy broke the silence, "It seems that Mom and Dad are gonna be gone a lot longer than we thought."_

 _I could see that she was trying very hard to hold back any more tears._

" _Well, that's not the worst thing in the world.", I said, trying my best to reassure her that everything was okay, "We'll still be here when they come back. Maybe I'll even be a Pokémon master by that time! They'll be so proud of me! And maybe you'll finally be a world-famous Pokémon masseuse!"_

 _Daisy's face lightened up and lifted into a genuine smile. I walked up and gave her a hug._

" _We're gonna be fine. We just have to be patient."_

* * *

There I stood at the entrance to Route 1. I had never actually stepped foot into Route 1 due to the tall grass blocking the way, but now that I had a Pokémon, it was a perfectly safe way for me to go.

I then took my very first step into Route 1, literally taking the first steps towards becoming the best Pokémon trainer in the world, the first steps towards fulfilling my dreams, and my first steps towards finally getting ahead of Red.

I walked through the relatively narrow path of grass that led to the heart of Route 1 when I was jumped by a Pokémon. It was a Pidgey.

I was very startled by how suddenly the Pokémon appeared before me, _"Geez, now I see why they make such a big deal about not going into the tall grass without a Pokémon."_

I sent out my Squirtle. I figured that I might as well begin my training then rather than later on.

The battle was extremely short. The Pidgey I encountered was very weak, but definitely worth the experience for Squirtle.

I continued to make my way through Route 1, encountering many Rattatas and Pidgeys along the way. I started out battling every single one I encountered, but it started to get very repetitive, so I started to run from most of the battles. Squirtle had gained enough experience anyways and needed to rest a bit.

I finally made it to the entrance to Viridian City. My first priority was to go to the Pokémart and get some Pokéballs to catch wild Pokémon, along with some potions and other healing items. I then made my way over to the Pokémon Center to heal Squirtle.

After healing my Pokémon up, I decided to head back to Route 1 to catch another Pokémon to add to my team. The first Pokémon I encountered was a Pidgey, so I weakened and caught it with a Pokéball. I figured that a flying-type would be very useful later on in my journey, so it was a great catch.

I also decided to look for a Rattata so that I could work on catching as many different species of Pokémon as possible. I encountered one and caught it on my first try.

I returned to Viridian City and went to the Pokémon Center again to heal up and noticed a computer to the side of the main desk. I logged in and noticed that I could store my Pokémon into an online box system called "Someone's PC".

 _"That's odd…",_ I thought, _"Who is 'Someone'?"_

I decided that I would deposit my Rattata into the PC since I didn't think I was gonna end up using it. I then left the Pokémon Center.

The next logical destination for me was to go to the gym in the northern part of the city. I walked down the street that led to the northern portion of town but was stopped when I tried to get past an old dude laying in the street.

"I need…my coffee…", he mumbled.

"What?", I questioned, "Dude, I have to get through here!"

The old man wouldn't let me get through, "No! Nobody can get through until I've had my morning coffee!"

"Ugh, whatever.", I grumbled.

I noticed that there was another route on the West side of town that I could take.

 _"Might as well go this way rather than waiting around for that old fart to get up."_

I entered the route and noticed a sign that read "Route 22".

"What?", I asked out loud, "What happened to Route 2?"

I decided to continue into Route 22. The route was basically just a brick path that led to a small building. I entered the building to see a man dressed in a security outfit.

 _"What the hell is this place?",_ I thought.

I walked towards the man and was stopped when I was a few feet in front of him. He was blocking a door that seemed to lead outside again.

"Halt!", he said loudly, "This is the Indigo Plateau. Only those who have earned the Boulder Badge may pass through. Please present your badge."

"Oh, I don't have any badges yet.", I told the man.

"Then you may not pass.", he stated, "Come back when you have all eight Kanto gym badges if you would like to proceed."

I left the building and made my way back towards Viridian City.

 _"That old dude better let me through or I'm gonna raise some hell.",_ I thought.

I looked in the distance and saw that there was a figure walking towards me. Upon closer inspection, I realized that it was Red.

"Oh, there you are!", I called, "Took you long enough to make it this far."

"…", Red was silent, as usual.

"Either way, you might as well head back towards Viridian City.", I said, "Out this way is the Indigo Plateau, entrance to the Pokémon League. And you can't get through unless you have all eight gym badges, and I'm assuming that you have none right now."

Red began to turn around to head back towards Viridian City.

"Wait!", I snapped, "Let's have another battle! I wanna see if your Pokémon can keep up with the two Pokémon I caught!"

Before Red even had a chance to react I had already sent out the newest addition to my team, Pidgey. A couple seconds later Red sent out his first Pokémon, Charmander.

"Hah!", I mocked, "You haven't caught any other Pokémon yet, have you?"

"…", no response.

"Well this battle is gonna be easy!", I began, "Pidgey, use growl!"

I already knew that Red's Charmander was a pretty hard hitter, so I figured that lowering its attack would be the best way to go. Of course, after my Pidgey lowered the foe's attack, Charmander came right in to land a scratch.

Almost as quickly as I sent Pidgey out, Charmander took her out in one hit.

 _"How is this Pokémon so powerful!? And why is this stupid Pidgey so useless!?",_ I thought angrily.

I then sent out my only other Pokémon, Squirtle.

"Squirtle, use tackle!", I ordered my Pokémon immediately, not giving him a second to adapt to the environment. He landed the attack, but Red's Charmander countered with a scratch attack before Squirtle got a chance to get out of the way.

Both of our Pokémon were weak. This next hit would determine who would leave this battle victorious.

"Come on Squirtle!", I shouted, "Get it together this time! Go in for another tackle!"

Squirtle hesitated, but quickly ran forward to get one last tackle on Red's Charmander.

"Dodge it.", I heard Red say in a calm voice. His Charmander quickly came to its senses and jumped out of the way. Squirtle missed the target and was ambushed from behind by Charmander.

The battle was done and Red had beaten me once again.

"Ugh! My Pokémon are so useless!", I shouted, "I couldn't even beat your one measly Pokémon with the both of them combined!"

"…", Red looked stoic, yet I could see a slight apologetic look in his eye.

 _"Red shows weakness.",_ I thought, _"He feels bad for beating me. Maybe it'll be easier than I thought to beat Red to the top."_

"Fine, Red.", I began, "You beat me this time. But get ready for the next battle. I won't go so easy on you. And I'll always be one step ahead of you."

I walked away from Red who just kinda stood there. He didn't seem fazed at all by the fact that I told him that you can't get through the gates to the Pokémon League and he began to walk towards them anyways.

"Moron.", I said to myself as I made my way back to Viridian City.

* * *

 _ **Thanks for reading! Follow/favorite for more! :) -Jack**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**_**Hey friends. New chapter again! And you can probably count on another within the next day as well (I might even post it tonight)! I don't really have anything to do this weekend, so I'll be able to write a lot today and possibly post another chapter! :) Enjoy!**_**_

 _ ** _ **This chapter was updated to fix the misspelling of "Rattata" on Thursday, September 17th, 2015.**_**_

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 _As kids, Red and I would play hide-and-seek pretty often. Back then there weren't smartphones or anything to keep us distracted. There were videogames and stuff, but five-year-olds weren't all that involved in the gaming community._

 _One day we were playing hide-and-seek. I always ended up hiding first because Red wasn't as…well-spoken as I was._

" _Okay, count to fifty and then come find me.", I said, "And you better tell me when you're done counting for once!"_

"…" _, Red was silent, as usual._

" _Okay, I'm gonna go hide.", I began again, "Remember to tell me when you're coming."_

 _I ran off to go hide. I knew that Red would never tell me when he was coming, but I still tried. I ran around to the back of my house where I saw two bushes that I could hide in. There was a good crawl-spot in them for me to hide unseen in them._

 _It only took me about fifteen seconds to find my spot, so I ended up waiting for a pretty long time. I ended up counting to about forty so that I would have a good idea of when Red would start looking._

 _I counted to about thirty-five when Red suddenly showed up and caught me immediately._

" _You cheated!", I shouted, "There's no way you counted to fifty!"_

"…" _, Red had no response. I knew it would be useless to fight with Red over this._

" _Fine.", I admitted, "You won fair and square. Now it's your turn to hide. You have fifty seconds! Go!"_

 _Red walked, not ran, walked off to find a hiding spot._

" _Forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty!", I had finished counting, "Ready or not, here I come!"_

 _I walked around to the front of my house to see that Red was still walking around trying to find a spot._

" _Red!", I snapped, "You were supposed to find a spot to hide!"_

"…" _, silence._

" _Fine, I'll let you hide again.", I said, "But you better find a spot this time!"_

 _I stood against the outside wall of my house and started to count again. This time I didn't yell that I was coming because I wanted to give Red a piece of his own medicine._

 _I have no idea how long I searched for Red, but it had to have been at least a half-hour. It was getting dark and it seemed to be a hopeless effort._

 _I went inside my house and told Daisy and Gramps that I couldn't find Red anywhere. Gramps went with me to go search for him and Daisy went over to Red's house to tell his mom and ask if Red was inside their house._

 _After hours of searching, we all had to give up. Red's mom looked very worried and said that she was gonna go home and call the police. I was angry that we were gonna give up just like that._

" _No!", I shouted, "I'm not giving up on finding him!"_

 _I then ran off to go find Red on my own. Gramps tried to run after me, but Daisy stopped him and assured him that I would be fine._

 _I searched everywhere in town before I noticed something new. Back behind my house was an area among the trees that had a wider opening than usual. I walked into it and noticed that someone had formed a small path. I walked for a few moments before I came to a clearing and saw a boy sitting there._

" _Red!", I shouted, "We've been looking everywhere for you! A normal person would usually come home when they realized that it's getting dark!"_

 _In the end, I learned something new about Red. I may always be quicker than Red, but he'll always have a way better strategy than me. I guess it's true that slow and steady always wins the race, as cliché as it sounds._

* * *

I arrived back in Viridian City and went directly to the Pokémon Center to heal my team up. I also went to the PC by the counter to withdraw my Rattata.

 _"I guess I need to get all the help I can get right now.",_ I thought, _"Maybe I can find some use in this rat."_

In the PC I discovered that I could check my email and that I had one message from Gramps. I opened it.

"Green,", it said, "I have received an important package that Red retrieved for me from the Pokémart in Viridian City. Please come back to my lab so that I can give you something important. I hope you haven't gone too far off yet!"

 _"Are you kidding me?",_ I thought, _"I need to keep going so that I can stay ahead of that moron."_

I made my way back through Route 1 to Pallet Town and went to Gramps's lab. Inside I found that Gramps was waiting for me.

"Yo, Gramps!", I called, "Let's get this over with so that I can hit the road!"

"Green,", he replied, "We need to wait until Red arrives with the package first."

"What?", I was surprised, "I thought you already had the package!"

"Well, if I would have told you that it wasn't here yet, you would have continued towards Pewter City without this important device.", he said.

"Ugh.", I groaned, "But we're gonna be waiting here for days before Red shows up."

"You need to have more faith in the boy.", Gramps lectured, "He'll be here in no time; just be patient."

We waited for maybe ten minutes, which felt like ten years to me, before Red finally showed up with a package in his hands.

"Finally!", I groaned, "Now let's get this over with so that I can get going already!"

"Patience, Green.", Gramps said for the millionth time.

"This package contains two very important devices that I would like the two of you to use.", Gramps began, "I neglected to tell you earlier that I have another task for you to perform on your journey.", Gramps took two red devices out of the box, "These are Pokédexes. I am giving the two of you the task of finding every Pokémon in the Kanto region and recording their info into these Pokédexes. I would do it myself, but I can't at my old age."

Gramps then handed us our Pokédexes, "Go out now and find as many Pokémon that you can. You can always come back and show me your progress!"

 _"As if I'll ever come back to Pallet Town while I'm busy becoming a Pokémon master.",_ I thought.

I then looked at Red. I didn't really have much to say to him, so I just said, "Smell ya later.", and left the lab.

I left Pallet Town immediately and made my way through Route 1 quickly. It was probably the fifth time I had walked through Route 1 in one day, so I was getting a little bit antsy about it.

I walked through Viridian City and noticed that the old dude who was blocking the way to the northern part of town wasn't there anymore.

 _"Finally!",_ I thought, _"Now I can go to the Pokémon gym in this town!"_

I made my way over to the Pokémon gym in the northern part of town. I walked up to the door and noticed that there was a note posted.

It read, "Gym temporarily closed. Please come again at another time."

"Damn it!", I cursed. I was so ready to finally get my first gym badge.

 _"Well, I know that there's a Pokémon gym in Pewter City…",_ I thought, _"So I guess I'll just have to go to that one instead."_

I left town through the exit in the north that led to Route 2. It was another route that was just as basic as Route 1, if not more basic. There were still no trainers and just a couple of spots with tall grass. The only Pokémon to be found were, yet again, Pidgeys and Rattatas.

As I walked north through that route, I noticed two odd-looking trees that were blocking another path through the route. I would've investigated the path further, but there was no way around the trees.

At the end of the small path there was a big opening in the trees. I walked through to find myself in a small, dim forest.

I walked forward and found a sign directly ahead of me. It said "Viridian Forest".

 _"Hm, a forest.",_ I thought, _"This would be a great place to find some bug Pokémon."_

I began searching through the tall grass to the left of the sign that I was standing in front of. I took several steps before I was jumped by a Caterpie.

"Go Pidgey!", I yelled as I sent my Pidgey out, "Go ahead and use tackle!"

My Pidgey was clearly faster than the Caterpie and hit it with a tackle before it even got a chance to think.

The foe Caterpie sent a stringshot at my Pokémon, which did nothing but slightly slow us down.

I could see that the one attack I landed was enough to significantly weaken the Caterpie, so I went ahead and threw a Pokéball and caught it on my first try.

I left the Caterpie at the top position of my team so that it could train a good bit and catch up with the rest of my team.

I spent some more time in the tall grass to train my newly-caught Caterpie a little bit. I ended up catching a Weedle, which I would send to the PC later. I also encountered a Metapod, but I already knew that Caterpie would evolve into a Metapod, so I just battled it for the experience.

The battle took forever because the foe Metapod kept on using harden, so its defense was ridiculously high to the point that I thought Caterpie was actually getting hurt by using tackle on the Metapod's hardened shell.

Finally, my Caterpie landed a critical hit on the Metapod, causing it to collapse to the ground.

Before I got a chance to praise my Pokémon and heal it up it started to glow.

 _"Wha-?",_ I thought, _"Is Caterpie…evolving?"_

The glow around Caterpie grew brighter and brighter until I couldn't see his figure anymore, just a bright light. Eventually the light subsided and the Pokémon before me was no longer a Caterpie, but a Metapod.

"Well that was quick.", I said out loud. I then healed Metapod up and began to actually trek through the Viridian Forest.

As I entered the depths of the forest, I noticed that there were some bug catchers scattered around. I decided to put my Pidgey at the front of my team 'cause I figured that a flying-type Pokémon would be more effective than the others.

The first trainer I encountered sent out a Weedle, which I took down in almost immediately, and then a Caterpie, same story.

I continued through the forest encountering a few more bug catchers who sent out similar, weak teams. I rotated my Pokémon around so that they could all get an even amount of experience, but I didn't use my Metapod.

After seeing how weak and defenseless bug-type Pokémon can be, I decided that I didn't want to have one on my team anymore. I was gonna deposit my Metapod into the PC when I got to the next town.

Viridian Forest turned out to be a pretty boring and quiet place, but it was also pretty large. I hadn't taken a break all day and I desperately needed one, so I found a nearby tree and decided to sit against it and take a short break.

I was yet again lost in my thoughts within a couple minutes. I began to think about what Gramps had been telling me about all day about being patient. I was always ahead of Red, but by the time he caught up, he was always just too strong for me to handle.

 _"No.",_ I thought, _"I just need to train my Pokémon harder. Red isn't gonna beat me just because he's a slowpoke."_

I then started to think about one of the things that Daisy told me earlier that day. She told me that Red was a good kid and was just trying to be my friend.

 _"My…friend…",_ I thought. Something just didn't seem satisfying about Red being my friend. I didn't know why I felt that way, however. Maybe I just didn't want to be his friend at all.

I reasoned that I was dissatisfied with calling Red my friend because I was so caught up in my dream of being a Pokémon master that I didn't want a friend. I needed a rival to keep me on my toes, but I hadn't realized that having a rival was gonna be so challenging.

I was interrupted from my thoughts when I felt a crawling sensation on my leg. I opened my eyes and looked down to see a Weedle crawling up my legs.

I screamed and then jumped up and ran away. I noticed that the exit to Viridian Forest was nearby, so I ran out of the forest and into the sunlight of the northern portion of Route 2.

At the entrance to Route 2 I was standing with my hands on my knees, hunched over, completely exhausted from running.

 _"Okay.",_ I thought, _"I'm definitely not training a Weedle ever."_

I looked up and noticed that the portion of Route 2 that I arrived in was just as basic as the first portion, if not more basic. I walked forward and entered the next city on the map, Pewter City.

* * *

 ** _Thanks for reading! Follow/favorite for more! :) -Jack_**


	5. Chapter 5

**_Hey guys! I told you that I would post another chapter before the end of the weekend and I have completed Chapter 5! I'm beginning to get into the habit of making my chapters a bit longer and I have started to add a little bit more detail to some aspects of the story! Enjoy! :)_**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 _As much as I act like I can't stand Gramps, I've always really appreciated his work. I mean, being a Pokémon master should also involve learning all about the different species of Pokémon._

 _I would always go over to Gramps's lab as a kid. I loved coming in to see him studying a new Pokémon that I had never seen before._

 _I specifically remember a day where I went into Gramps's lab to see what Pokémon he was studying that day. I was a little disappointed because I walked into the lab to see that Gramps wasn't studying a Pokémon, but rather some dumb old rock._

" _What is that thing, Gramps?", I asked._

" _Oh hello Green.", Gramps began, "This is the fossil of an ancient Pokémon whose species has been extinct for thousands of years."_

" _Boooring!", I complained, "Why can't you study a real-life Pokémon instead of a dumb, dean rock?"_

" _Learning about the Pokémon of the past is very important to understanding the development of current-day Pokémon, Green!", Gramps replied, "Plus scientists on Cinnabar Island have been making advances towards being able to take genetic data from ancient Pokémon and cloning them. They predict that we will be able to study them in depth within the next five years or so."_

" _Wow.", I stood corrected, "That's pretty cool, actually."_

" _Indeed.", Gramps replied, "Maybe by the time you go on your Pokémon journey in a few years you will be able to visit Cinnabar Island and revive an ancient Pokémon for my research."_

" _Sounds like a plan", I said._

* * *

Pewter City was slightly larger than Viridian City. It was also a lot prettier to look at. There were clean stone walkways, many lush gardens planted, and even a museum. There was also a Pokémon gym in this city, but it was getting late, so I figured that it would be a good idea to rest for the night before challenging it.

I went into the Pokémon Center and healed my Pokémon I also reserved myself a room for the night since that Pokémon Center also doubled as a hotel for traveling Pokémon trainers.

The sun still hadn't set yet, so I figured that I would go check and see if the museum was still open.

I walked to the northern portion of town to go to the museum. The building was relatively large. It was white with a purple roof. The front door was a large doorway surrounded by four columns, two on each side.

I walked into the building and saw a sign with the museum hours listed. The sign said that the museum was open 'till 9:00pm. I checked my watch and saw that it was currently 7:30.

 _"Good timing.",_ I thought. I walked up to the counter where a woman was standing behind.

"Welcome to the Pewter City Museum.", she said, "It will be fifty Pokédollars to enter."

 _"Really?",_ I thought, _"Only fifty Pokédollars? That's pocket change!"_

I handed my money to the receptionist and was welcomed into the museum.

I walked forward and was immediately greeted with a plethora of glass cases which contained many fossils of ancient Pokémon. I almost immediately noticed a fossil that I was very intrigued by, an Omanyte fossil.

 _"That's the fossil that Gramps was studying in his lab all those years ago.",_ I thought, _"I wonder if science has advanced enough to allow for cloning ancient Pokémon from their fossils yet…"_

I continued to look at the different displays of Pokémon fossils and made my way over to the southern portion of the room where a staircase was located.

I went up the stairs and found another room of ancient Pokémon on display, except these weren't in the form of small fossils, but full size fossils with remnants of the Pokémon put together to form life-size models.

I was specifically intrigued by the Pokémon called Aerodactyl. It had wings and a broad face.

After a few minutes of looking around the top floor of the museum, I decided to head back to the Pokémon Center for the night. I had already seen everything that I wanted to see.

I walked out of the museum and noticed that it was dark out. I checked the time on my watch and noticed that it was 8:30pm.

 _"Wow.",_ I thought, _"I didn't realize how long I was looking at the fossils in the museum."_

I walked a short distance back to the Pokémon Center and walked upstairs. My room was on the second floor, so it wasn't really worth taking the elevator.

When I got to the top of the stairs I saw something that froze me to the bone.

 _"Red.",_ I was startled. He was walking down the hallway away from me. I hid behind a large plant that was in the hallway as decoration so that Red wouldn't see me.

I noticed that Red had a new Pokémon, a Pikachu. It looked very friendly towards Red and was sitting on top of Red's hat.

Suddenly Red stopped walking.

 _"Uh-oh.",_ I thought, _"Does Red know I'm here."_

My worries were set aside when Red pulled out a key and unlocked the door that he was standing in front of and walked in.

I sighed in relief. I came out from behind the plant and looked around to make sure that there wasn't anyone around who could've seen me hiding. I walked down the hall and walked up to my room.

I took out my key and went to unlock my door when I heard the doorknob behind me turn. I quickly ran into my room and slammed the door as quickly as possible, worried that Red was gonna come out of the room across the hall and see me.

I looked out the small peephole on my door to see if Red was in the hallway. The door across the hall was halfway open. It appeared that someone was opening the door and suddenly stopped.

The door began to open a little bit further before stopping again. This time it stayed like that for a good ten seconds before it was finally shut. Nobody came out of the room across the hallway.

 _"Weird…",_ I thought, _"Was that…Red?"_

I decided to just agree with myself that it was just some crazy person who got scared by my door slamming. I walked away from my door.

I entered the room that I would be staying in for the night. It was simple, but it was definitely better than camping out on Route 2 or something.

I placed my bag and Pokéball holder onto the twin-size bed and walked into the bathroom. It was a small bathroom, as expected, but I had a sink, a toilet, and a shower. I decided to go ahead and take a shower since I wouldn't always get a chance in the future.

I turned the hot water on and then stripped off my clothes. I walked into the hot stream of water. I felt so great to unwind after a long day of traveling and battling trainers.

I stayed in the shower for about fifteen minutes before I got out to go to bed. I put on some boxer-briefs and decided to just wear them to bed rather than wasting more clothes than needed.

I walked out of the bathroom and plopped myself in the bed. Almost immediately I fell asleep.

 _"I know you miss him.", a voice said._

 _"What?", I asked, "Who are you and what do you want?"_

 _"I've already told you who I am.", the voice responded._

 _"What are you talking about!?", I shouted, "I've never met you in my life!"_

 _Suddenly the scene changed. I was no longer in darkness, but instead in front of a mirror. I was startled seeing my reflection appear so suddenly._

 _"You're…me…?", I asked out loud._

 _"…Green…", I heard another voice call out. This voice was one I had only heard maybe once before._

I jolted awake.

 _"Oh, I was asleep.",_ I thought. I sat up and opened my eyes. I turned and turned on the lamp at my bedside.

I was shocked to see that Red was standing at my bedside.

"Ah!", I yelled, "What are you doing here?"

Red just blankly stared at me. It was strange because Red usually at least has some form of emotion. You could tell by looking into his eyes. This time, however, was different; his eyes showed no emotion. He was just blankly staring at me.

"Red, what do you want?", I was getting a little frustrated and freaked out.

Red then sat down on my lap, straddling me. My face grew red-hot.

"R-red?", I asked, my voice shaking, "W-what are you doing?"

He gave me the same blank stare before leaning in. His face got very close to mine. He looked into my eyes and I looked into his. His eyes were a beautiful crimson red. I had never noticed how beautiful they looked before.

As I looked deeper into his eyes, I finally got a close enough look to see what emotion he was feeling. His eyes looked lonely and depressed. I felt like I was the blame because I had shunned Red out of my life shortly before then.

"Red.", I began, "I…I'm so-."

I was interrupted when I felt Red's lips touch mine. I didn't know what to do. My immediate reaction was to freak out because my former best friend, a _guy_ , was kissing me, but there was something strange about this moment. It somehow felt… _right_ …

I accepted the kiss, ignoring every disapproving thought in my mind and pushed in for more. The kiss lasted about thirty seconds that felt like thirty years. After letting go, I felt dissatisfied. I wanted more for some reason.

Red then laid down next to me and put his head on my chest. I turned off the light and fell asleep with Red in my arms.

I woke up the next morning in a daze. I had a light headache and felt sore all over, probably from traveling the day before.

As soon as my mind began functioning at capacity I remembered what had happened the night before. I quickly lifted the sheets and found no sign of Red anywhere on or around my bed.

 _"So, it was…just a dream…",_ I thought.

"Thank god.", I said out loud. I was completely relieved that I hadn't actually kissed Red. It was unsettling to think that I had such a weird dream though. I couldn't think about Red without feeling completely guilty about it.

"Well, might as well push through and get going with my journey.", I said. There was no use in dwelling on something like a dumb dream when I could be working towards my dreams.

I grabbed all of my stuff and walked out of my room and into the hallway. I stopped for a moment to look at Red's door. I noticed that it was only about ninety-five percent shut.

 _"That dream…",_ I thought, _"Felt so…"_

I quickly put the thought out of my head. I pulled the door shut quietly and quickly went down the hall towards the stairs. I looked back to make sure Red didn't hear me shut the door. I didn't see anyone in the hall, so I figured I succeeded.

I walked down the stairs, returned my key to Nurse Joy, and left the Pokémon Center.

The sun was very bright in Pewter City that day. It was also pretty hot. It had to have been at least eighty degrees out that day.

I didn't let the heat get to me, however. I immediately continued on my journey. I planned on taking on the Pokémon gym located in this town, but I needed to go to the Pokémart first to get some supplies.

I walked into the Mart and bought some potions to heal my Pokémon just in case I got put into a tight situation battling the gym leader. I knew that the Pewter City gym leader used rock-type Pokémon, so I didn't bother getting any antidotes, paralyze heals, or anything else like that.

I left the Pokémart and walked towards the west end of the city. After a couple minutes of walking I arrived in front of the Pewter City gym.

 _"Welp, no time to lose.",_ I thought. I then walked into the gym.

I was greeted by a large-ish room. There was a dirt floor and many random rocks dispersed around. There was one young Pokémon trainer along the way to Brock, the gym leader, who I could see from the entrance.

 _"Wow, this place is more basic than I thought.",_ I thought.

I walked forward and challenged the only Pokémon trainer that the Pewter City gym had to offer.

"If you wanna battle Brock, you're gonna have to get through me first!", the youngster shouted.

"Fine, let's go.", I said, unamused.

The foe trainer sent out a Geodude as his first Pokémon. I sent out my Squirtle, an obvious type advantage against rock-type Pokémon.

"Geodude, use defense curl!", the youngster commanded his Pokémon.

"Ugh, Squirtle use bubble and put this kid's Geodude out of its misery.", I commanded. Squirtle used bubble, which immediately knocked the kid's Geodude out cold.

The youngster then sent out a Sandshrew.

 _"A ground-type, huh?",_ I thought, _"Even easier."_

"Squirtle, use bubble again!", I shouted, "You don't have to take a hit from this kid's weak Pokémon!"

Squirtle landed a bubble on the foe Sandshrew, hitting it even harder than the Geodude. The Sandshrew was, yet again, a one-hit K.O.

I returned my Squirtle and continued along without even looking back at the trainer who I had just defeated.

"That was a decent display of skill in battle.", Brock said as I walked up to his rock platform, "But let's see if you can get through my rock-type Pokémon!"

"I'm pretty sure I can get through a couple of lousy rock Pokémon.", I replied.

"We'll see about that.", Brock responded, "But don't count on a little type advantage to help you out in a battle with me!"

Brock then sent out his first Pokémon, a Geodude.

 _"Ugh, these guys and their Geodudes.",_ I thought. I sent out my Squirtle yet again.

"Squirtle, use bubble!", I shouted. Squirtle sent out a stream of bubbles towards Brock's Geodude.

"Geodude, dodge it and use tackle!", Brock's Geodude turned out to be pretty quick to dodge my Squirtle's attack and slam my Squirtle with a tackle.

"Squirtle, hurry up and stand up!", I started to panic a little, "Use bubble again, but this time try to make it quick enough to keep Geodude from being able to dodge it!"

Squirtle got up and tried another bubble. It went towards Geodude at the same speed as before. Brock had his Geodude do the same thing, but I was prepared this time.

"Squirtle, jump up and use a bubble from above!", I quickly shouted.

Squirtle jumped out of the way as the Geodude tried to tackle him. While in the air he sent down a stream of bubbles, but this time they were much more rapid and hard-hitting.

"Yes!", I yelled, "Squirtle learned bubblebeam!"

Brock's face changed from his smug look from earlier into an uncomfortable look.

 _"He knows that he doesn't stand a chance.",_ I thought.

I was so excited about Squirtle learning bubblebeam that I hadn't even noticed that Brock's Geodude had been taken out.

"Fine, you got through my Geodude.", Brock began, "But let's see how you hold up against my Onix!"

Brock then sent out a massive snake made of boulders.

I kept my cool and kept myself in focus.

 _"It looks really strong.",_ I thought, _"But I still have a strong water-type Pokémon out."_

"Okay, Squirtle, run up and get a good bubblebeam up close!", I commanded. Squirtle ran up to Brock's Onix.

A smirk appeared on Brock's face, "Onix, use bind!"

 _"Uh-oh.",_ I thought.

The foe Onix wrapped its huge body around Squirtle. I knew I only had a little bit of time before Squirtle would be constricted to the point of fainting.

"Squirtle!", I shouted, "You need to hurry up and get a bubblebeam going on that Onix's face! That's the only way you can pull through this!"

Squirtle continued to struggle. It was as if he hadn't heard me.

"Squirtle, use bubblebeam!", I shouted, "As your trainer I order you!"

Squirtle finally regained his senses and shot a strong bubblebeam into Onix's face, causing it to let go of Squirtle.

"Good, now get another bubblebeam in!", I shouted, "Put everything you got into it!"

Squirtle sent in a massive bubblebeam right into Onix's face once more. It hit so hard that it filled the room with a cloud of dust.

After the room cleared we saw an odd display. Brock's Onix fainted…along with my Squirtle.

"What!?", I exclaimed, "How did Squirtle faint!?"

"You pushed him too hard.", I heard Brock say.

 _"I pushed him…too hard?",_ I thought.

"Your Pokémon are strong.", Brock began, "But they won't reach their full potential if you push them too far. You can't expect them to go all out all the time."

"So what you're telling me is to be…patient…", I responded.

I looked at Brock. He nodded his head.

"Nonetheless,", he began again, "you have defeated my team. And since I see that you still have two Pokémon left in your party, you have won the battle. Please, accept this Boulder Badge as a reward for defeating me in battle and remember what you learned here today."

I took my gym badge and placed it into my badge case.

"Thank you.", I said. And, with that, I left the Pewter City gym and headed East towards the next stop on my journey, Cerulean City.

* * *

 _ **Thanks for reading! Please review and follow/favorite if you want more! :) -Jack**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**_**Hey friends! The next chapter of my story is done! Enjoy!**_**_

 _ ** _ **This chapter was updated for the misspelling of "Rattata" on Thursday, September 17th, 2015.**_**_

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

 _Two years before I left Pallet Town to go on my Pokémon journey, there was a strange spike in criminal activity around Kanto. There were small gangs of crime syndicates that would station themselves in certain cities around Kanto._

 _One day I was out playing with Red when a strange group of people came into town from the south. They were riding on odd-looking water Pokémon and came onto land. They had a strange getup. They were wearing white and blue burglar outfits._

 _Everyone living in Pallet Town began to run inside their houses. Red and I ran to hid in the bushes by the entrance to our secret hangout._

" _This town isn't even worth robbing.", one of the grunts said._

" _Let's just get a move on so that we can meet with the other teams.", another began, "Merging our teams together was the best idea that that Giovanni dude ever had."_

" _Yeah.", the first grunt said, "Now we'll be able to have one unified organization of crime to take over Kanto!"_

" _Shut your yaps.", one, who looked like their leader, said, "I'm not really a fan of the fact that we are abandoning Team Aqua. We were supposed to make preparations take our operation to this region. Remember the plan, we need to infiltrate this so-called Team Rocket so we can have a Region-wide organization to extend our plan."_

" _Team…Aqua?", I asked, "Where did they come from? They say that they came from another region…but where?"_

 _The strange group of burglars continued walking and entered Route 1. They were never seen in Pallet Town ever again._

* * *

After going to the Pokémon Center to heal my Pokémon I walked to the East end of town and entered Route 3.

As I walked into Route 3 I was stopped by a random lab aide.

"Hello, Green!", he beamed, "How is your Pokémon journey going?"

"It's going fine.", I said impatiently, "Can I help you?"

"Actually I'm here to assist you.", he said, "Professor Oak has assigned me the task of giving you these running shoes."

"Okay.", I said, confused, "Why would I need separate shoes to run?"

"Actually…I'm not quite sure.", he replied, "Professor Oak asked me to deliver them to you and Red, so I'm just following orders. Well, I'll see you sometime in the future!"

I then walked away. I looked in the box and noticed that there were instructions inside.

"Slip these shoes on to add some jump to your step!", they said, "To use, hold down the B button."

 _"What?",_ I thought, _"Hold down the B button?"_

I figured that Gramps was crazy, but I still switched my current shoes out for the new ones. I needed new shoes anyways.

The new shoes did make me feel like I could stand to run a much further distance, however.

After the delay, I finally entered Route 3. It was a plain with not much grass. I could see that there was a buildup of rocks the further you got into the route.

I walked forward to be ambushed by a rogue youngster.

"I like shorts! They're comfy and easy to wear!", he shouted at me before sending out a Rattata.

"What?", I was so confused, "Uh, go Rattata, I guess!?"

I sent out my Rattata so we were both battling with the same Pokémon.

"Rattata, use tail whip!", the kid yelled. My Pokémon was barely phased by a mere tail whip.

"Rattata, use tackle!", I commanded. He hit the foe Pokémon head-on, "Now use quick attack and take him out!"

My Pokémon used quick attack and finished the job. The youngster's Rattata had fainted. He then sent out an Ekans.

"Rattata, go in for another quick attack!", I shouted before the kid got a chance to get his bearings. Rattata went in and landed a quick attack.

"Ekans, use bite!", the youngster told his Pokémon just before my Rattata got a chance to get out of the way. The foe Ekans chomped down on the side of my Rattata, who screeched in pain.

"Hang in there, Rattata!", I yelled, "Bite him back!"

My Rattata turned his head and bit the Ekans right in the nose as hard as he could before slamming the foe to the ground.

 _"Woah.",_ I thought, _"I never expected that a Rattata could be so powerful."_

The foe Ekans fainted after enduring that blow. I had won the battle.

"Wow!", the kid shouted, "Do you think shorts are as cool as I do!?"

"Does this kid have mental problems?", I mumbled under my breath. I then walked deeper into Route 3.

I fought several more trainers before arriving at a large dirt area surrounded by rocks. I could see an opening in the rocks and a Pokémon Center. I walked forward and noticed a sign that said "Mt. Moon".

I went to the Pokémon Center and healed up my Pokémon. I then notice that there was a man with a fish tank containing a Magyar to the left of the counter.

"Hey kid!", he said, "Wanna buy a rare Magikarp? Only 500 Pokédollars!"

"I'm gonna have to pass on that.", I said, trying not to laugh at the ridiculous offer.

I then walked out of the Pokémon Center and into the opening in the rocks nearby to enter the cave called Mt. Moon.

I was greeted with a dim, dank cave. The walls were slowly dripping, leaving puddles on the cave floor. I could hear small wings flapping every so often in the distance.

I took a few steps forward and was immediately ambushed by a Zubat.

I sent out my Pidgey and commanded it to use Tackle, easily taking a good chunk of the Zubat's health out. The Zubat used screech, only mildly discomforting my Pidgey. I then threw a Pokéball, successfully catching the wild Zubat.

I could already tell that Zubat was not a very strong Pokémon to begin with, so I decided that I would put it into the PC the next time I got to a Pokémon Center.

After the battle, I took another few steps forward so that I could explore more of Mt. Moon. Yet again, I was attacked by another Zubat.

 _"Ugh.",_ I thought, _"If I keep on getting interrupted like this I'll never make it through this dumb cave."_

I escaped from the encounter and went back out the cave.

"I should probably head back to Pewter City real quick and stock up on repels.", I thought out loud.

I stopped at the Pokémon Center right outside Mt. Moon to heal my Pokémon and deposit my Zubat into the PC before making my way back to Pewter City.

Taking Route 3 back to Pewter was a little bit easier that taking it the other way. There was a path that could not be accessed on the way in, so I was able to bypass walking through the mob of trainers.

I entered Pewter City again and went directly to the Mart. I bought twenty repels, which should've been enough to get through Mt. Moon.

I exited the Mart and made my way back towards Mt. Moon. Nothing interesting happened on my way through Route 3 for the third time. I gave the weird shorts kid a look because he almost challenged me to another battle. Either way, I would've just walked away from him; I had beaten him fair and square.

I finally arrived back at the entrance to Mt. Moon. I walked right in and applied one of my repels.

This time I wasn't approached by any Zubats. It was as if I had a glass orb around be 'cause I could see the many Zubats surrounding the radius of protection that I had.

 _"Wow.",_ I thought, _"There are more Zubats in here than I thought. And I thought there were a lot."_

I continued walking through the cave. The path was pretty straightforward. There were a few youngsters and such to battle along the way, but they weren't really a threat.

Eventually I made it to a ladder that led to a deeper portion of the cave. I went down it and found myself in a small room with a ladder on the other side.

 _"Simple enough.",_ I thought.

I arrived in a larger room in another portion of the cave from the first area. There was a man there wearing a strange outfit. He was wearing all black with boots, gloves, and a black hat. On his chest I saw a big red R.

 _"What does R stand for?",_ I thought. I decided to walk up to him. He looked like a burglar, but I wasn't scared of someone like that. His Pokémon were probably weak anyways.

"Yo, what's with the getup?", I asked the guy.

"What?", he asked, shocked, "Oh, a kid. That's none of your business! Why don't you run along and stay out of our way?"

"I'm not leaving until you tell me what the R stands for.", I stood my ground.

"Ugh, get away from me, you brat!", he yelled, "Go Sandshrew!"

I reacted to the challenge without haste, sending out Squirtle, "Squirtle, quick, use bubblebeam!"

The bubbles charged towards the ground-type Pokémon and knocked it out in one hit.

"Ugh, you worthless Pokémon!", he shouted, "I should've stolen from a better trainer!"

 _"Stolen?",_ I thought.

"Go Rattata!", he sent out a Rattata, "Use quick attack!"

Before I got a chance to give Squirtle any orders, he was hit my the Rattata's quick attack.

"Squirtle, get up and use tackle!", Squirtle got up and slammed into the foe Rattata with a tackle. He had clearly been angered, 'cause the tackle immediately took the opposing Pokémon out.

The strange guy then sent out an Ekans.

"Squirtle, use bubblebeam!", I commanded, not ready to allow the man to beat me to the punch again.

The foe Ekans was hit with the stream of bubbles. It took sufficient damage, but not enough to take it out.

"Ekans, use poison sting!", the snake Pokémon lunged at Squirtle and bit it, injecting its venom into him. Squirtle didn't take very much damage, but he was inflicted with poison which was draining his life quickly.

"Squirtle, return!", a red beam shot out from Squirtle's Pokéball and he was returned to his Pokéball to rest, "Your foe's weak! Get 'me, Pidgey!"

I sent out Pidgey and commanded him to use gust. The strong winds caused the Ekans to fly back and smash against the wall, taking it out.

"Now, what does that R on your shirt mean?", I snapped, "And why are you stealing Pokémon?"

"That's none of your business!", he snapped back, "Team Rocket has no time for the likes of you!"

I gasped, "Team Rocket!?"

"…Oops…", the Team Rocket grunt said. He ran away and hid behind a nearby rock.

 _"Idiot.",_ I thought, _"But still… Team Rocket? Can that be the Team Rocket that those weird-looking people were talking about a couple years back…?"_

I put the thought out of my head. I continued going through Mt. Moon. I was surprised to see no more Team Rocket grunts.

I reached a small area that I could see the exit from.

 _"Well, this was an easy cave to get through.",_ I thought. I walked into the area when I noticed something strange. There were two strange-looking rocks in the way.

 _"Are these…fossils?",_ I thought.

"Get away from those! They're mine!", I heard a voice shout. It scared the daylights out of me and I ended up running away towards the exit of the cave.

I was standing outside Mt. Moon. I was in the Eastern portion of Route 4.

"We're Team Rocket and we're taking those fossils!", I heard someone in the cave shout.

"No, they're mine! Stay back!", another voice shouted.

 _"Okay, I'm outta here.",_ I thought.

Route 4 was really basic. There were no trainers except for two dudes arguing nearby. I decided not to get in the middle of things, so I proceeded through the route, not looking at them.

I reached a point where there was a ledge. It was small enough to jump down, but not small enough to climb back up. I made sure that I had done everything I wanted to do before I jumped down into the grass below.

I continued a few more steps before finding myself in Cerulean City, the next stop on my Pokémon journey.

* * *

 _ **Thanks for reading! Follow/favorite for more! :) -Jack**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Hey friends! I finally have another chapter up! I'm worried that people are gonna lose interest because a lot of the story right now is just restating the plot from the original games, but I promise there is going to be more depth soon! Just hang in there! :) Enjoy!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

 _There have been tons of times where I was hanging out with Red and tensions would run high and I would end up letting my anger completely control me._

 _For example, there was one time when I convinced Red to play truth or dare. It was a huge deal because I was never able to get Red to play before._

" _Okay, I'll start.", I said, "Truth or dare?"_

"…" _, Red was silent, as usual._

" _Come on, Red.", I said, "You just have to say one word."_

"…" _, Red didn't budge._

" _Fine, I'll ask one more time.", I replied, "Truth or dare?"_

 _As I said it that time, I noticed that something in Red's expression changed when I said truth. It was almost as if there was something that he wanted to tell me really badly._

" _You say truth?", I asked._

"…" _, still silence._

" _That counts as a yes in my book!", I replied. I then considered the best questions to ask Red. Maybe if he sucked his thumb? Or if he slept with a blankie? I chuckled to myself._

 _I then began to think about something different to ask him._

" _Who do you like?", I asked mischievously._

 _Red looked at me like he was confused._

" _What?", I asked, "Is there nobody that you like?"_

 _Red blushed. I knew there was somebody._

" _Red.", I said mockingly, "You have to tell me. Those are the rules."_

 _Red looked up and just stared at me directly in the eyes._

" _Come on.", I said, getting frustrated, "You have to tell me."_

 _Red looked up again to meet my stare. He looked at me like I was an idiot, like I should've known. That just pissed me off._

" _Red, you idiot, you better tell me right now or we aren't friends anymore!", I shouted at him._

 _He looked shocked and hurt, but I was too angry to care._

" _You have one more chance to tell me.", I said as calm as possible._

 _Red was silent yet again._

" _Fine!", I snapped, "I can't stand being friends with a mute kid anyways."_

 _I then got up and walked away from my friend who had fresh tears streaming down his face._

" _You…", he said._

" _Hm?", I asked, confused._

" _It's…you.", he said._

"… _You clearly didn't understand what I meant.", I said, "I meant girls that you like. Not a friend that you like."_

 _Red looked confused again._

" _Idiot…"_

* * *

I arrived in Cerulean City. I could see that there was a bike shop, Pokémon Center and a Pokémart, a gym, and several houses. As usual, I walked towards the Pokémon Center to go heal up my Pokémon.

 _"Well, since the gym is right next door, I should probably go get my next badge before exploring around town.",_ I thought. There were four different paths out of town that I could take. One to the North, South, East, and West, which I had just arrived from. I figured that I was gonna be doing a lot of exploring around town, so it would make sense to challenge the Pokémon gym first.

I left the Pokémon Center and walked next door to challenge the Cerulean City gym. I walked in and was surprised to see that the whole Gym was a swimming pool. I walked forward and across the bridge that spanned the large pool. I was immediately confronted by a rogue swimmer to my right who quickly swam up to me.

"Yo!", he yelled, "If you wanna go up against Misty, you'll have to battle me first!"

The swimmer wasn't all that difficult to defeat. He had a Horsea and a Shellder.

After beating the swimmer in battle I continued towards the other end of the bridge where Misty, the gym leader, was waiting for me. I walked a few feet in front of her, ready to challenge her to a battle when I was ambushed yet again.

"Not so fast!", a girl yelled, "You can't battle Misty until you battle me first!"

"Ugh, are you kidding me?", I mumbled, "Fine, go Pidgey!"

"Go Goldeen!", she yelled.

"Pidgey, use gust!", I commanded. The gust of wind created by Pidgey sent the foe Goldeen flying towards the wall behind it in the distance. It smacked hard against the wall and fell into the pool.

"Goldeen, use water gun!", the girl yelled. The foe Goldeen jumped out of the pool and sprayed my Pidgey with a water gun. My Pidgey wasn't really phased by it though.

"Pidgey, use tackle and end this!", I commanded.

Pidgey then charged forward and took the Goldeen out, sending it flying back into the pool behind it.

"Fine.", the girl began, "You can challenge Misty now…"

 _"Really?",_ I thought, _"Only one Pokémon?"_

I put my irritation aside and walked up to Misty.

"Welcome to the Cerulean City gym.", she began, "I'm Misty, the gym leader and I specialize in water-type Pokémon."

"Couldn't have figured that one out.", I replied mockingly.

Misty scowled, "You're asking for an asswhooping! Now I'll show you how powerful water-type Pokémon can be!"

She then sent out a Staryu.

"Really?", I mocked, "A Staryu? You're just asking to lose!", I then sent out Rattata, "Rattata use quick attack!"

Rattata quickly charged at the Staryu and slammed it with a quick attack.

"Ugh!", Misty was getting frustrated, "Staryu, use water gun and take this stupid rat out!"

"Rattata, quickly dodge and use bite!", my Rattata immediately obeyed and jumped out of the way of the gush of water coming towards it. He then rushed towards the Staryu and chomped down hard, not letting go.

After a good few seconds, the Staryu was weakened to the point of fainting.

I considered switching Rattata out for another Pokémon since he had been working hard for a while, but I decided against it because I really wanted Rattata ta gain a good bit of experience in that battle.

Misty then slammed down a Pokéball which opened, revealing a Starmie.

 _"Of course she'd just follow the evolution line…",_ I thought.

"Starmie, use bubblebeam!", she shouted immediately. I didn't get a chance to react before the stream of bubbles clashed against Rattata, significantly weakening him.

"Hold it together, Rattata!", I commanded, "Go in for a bite and really let Starmie have it!"

Rattata regained his composure and jumped in for another bite. It proved to be even more effective this time because Starmie was a psychic-type.

Misty was enraged, "Starmie shake that thing off and use tackle!"

Her Starmie struggled until it got Rattata to let go and then slammed Rattata with a massive tackle, causing him to faint.

"Argh!", I shouted, "Why couldn't you just pull through for me against one more Pokémon!?"

I returned Rattata to his Pokéball and sent out Pidgey, "Pidgey, use tackle right now!", I yelled, taking out my frustration on my Pokémon.

Pidgey hit the foe Starmie with a tackle, but it wasn't to full power.

"Pidgey, you have to try harder if you want to win!", I yelled, anger getting the best of me.

Misty began to calm down a little and smirked, seeing that I was angry, "Starmie, use bubblebeam!"

The bubbles flew towards Pidgey, hitting him straight in the face and causing him to faint immediately.

 _"Crap!",_ I thought, _"I need to focus."_

I took a deep breath and sent out my last Pokémon, Squirtle.

"Starmie, use tackle and give it all you got!", Misty yelled.

"Squirtle, dodge it and tackle it from the side!", I had regained my focus.

The foe Starmie came charging at my Squirtle. Before it got a chance to land an attack, Squirtle jumped to the side and tackled the Pokémon from the side, causing it to go flying off the platform and into the pool.

It was silent for a moment. After a couple of seconds, Starmie came floating up on its back; it had fainted.

"Yes!", I yelled, "I did it!"

"Yes, your Pokémon did it.", Misty replied, "They are strong, but their training is unhealthy."

"What?", I was confused, "What are you talking about?"

"You get too angry when you battle.", she began, "You put way too much pressure on your Pokémon and then take it out on them when they can no longer hold up."

"Well, maybe I just know that they can do better than that!", I defended, "Why would I praise them for failing?"

"I'm not saying that you should praise them for failing", she replied, "But you shouldn't punish them for something that you caused. You set your Rattata up for failure by making it battle more when it was clearly exhausted."

I was silent. I hadn't thought about it that way.

"The only reason that you ended up beating me was because you regained your composure at the last second. You can't be a successful Pokémon trainer when you let your emotions lead the way you strategize.", she lectured.

"Well I'm obviously not the only one with that problem.", I said, "I saw you screaming at your Pokémon while we battled."

"Yes, I admit that I can get very angry in battle.", she defended, "However, I don't get mad at my Pokémon and I put the emotional energy towards improving my focus while I battle."

I was silent for a moment, "Can I just have my badge now?"

"Oh, right!", she regained a more pleasant attitude, "Here, take this Cascade Badge as a symbol of defeating the Cerulean City gym! I hope you learned something through this battle. I know I have."

I put the badge in my case and walked out of the gym, feeling more like I had been defeated instead of winning.

I went to the Pokémon Center to heal my Pokémon up yet again. I checked my map to see where I should go next and noticed that the path to the North was short and didn't lead to any town or anything, so I decided that I should explore that path before going in any other direction.

I checked the time. It was 4:00pm.

 _"I'm not gonna be able to make it to the next town before nightfall.",_ I thought, _"I should get a room in here and plan on spending the night."_

I walked up to the desk and requested a room. I received my room key and then left the Pokémon Center. I would get settled later.

I walked to the North end of town and saw a long bridge leading out of town. I walked up the steps and walked along the bridge.

As I progressed I was met with five trainers who were lining the bridge.

The first one I met with was a bug catcher.

"Hey!", he said, "If you wanna get to the other end of Nugget Bridge, you'll have to defeat the five of us in battle first!"

 _"Nugget Bridge?",_ I thought, _"What kind of dumb name is that?"_

"Fine.", I replied, "I accept your challenge."

The trainers on Nugget Bridge were a joke. The only worthwhile one was the youngster at the end of the bridge who had a relatively powerful Mankey. However, I ended up taking that Pokémon out with ease too.

I finally made it to the end of the bridge and walked down the steps. I was encountered by another Pokémon trainer.

"Congratulations on defeating the Nugget Bridge challenge!", he exclaimed, "Here is your reward!"

I was handed a nugget, _"I guess that's why they call it Nugget Bridge?"_

"Now, how would you feel about joining Team Rocket?", he asked.

"What!?", I exclaimed, shocked, "Why would I want to be involved with those bozos!?"

"Team Rocket is a great organization for aspiring trainers to work with others so that they may improve their skills and be part of some-."

"No!", I interrupted, "Why would I want to be in an organization that steals Pokémon from defenseless trainers!?"

"Team Rocket would never steal Pokémon!", the trainer snapped back.

"How would you know?", I asked, "You aren't even in Team Rocket!"

The trainer then pulled off his clothing to reveal that he was wearing Team Rocket garb underneath.

 _"A disguise…?",_ I thought.

"You will either join Team Rocket or I'll steal your Pokémon!", the grunt yelled at me before sending out an Ekans.

"So you do steal Pokémon!", I snapped, "Fine, if you want your Pokémon to feel the wrath of a child's Pokémon, then so be it!"

I then sent out Rattata.

"Rattata, use tackle!", I commanded. Rattata charged in and landed a tackle on the foe Ekans.

"Ekans, use poison sting!", the Rocket grunt shouted. The Ekans lunged at my Rattata and plunged its fangs deep into its skin.

The sheer, intense pain that Rattata felt was enough to cause him to faint instantly.

"I'll make you pay for that!", I shouted, "Go Pidgey!"

Pidgey then came out of his Pokéball, "Use gust and slam that snake to the ground!"

Pidgey flailed its wings and caused a relatively strong gust of wind to surge at the Ekans. It was not strong enough to get the Ekans off the ground though.

"Come on, Pidgey!", I growled, "Really let 'em have it!"

Pidgey was then suddenly surrounded by a bright light, so luminous that it was impossible to even see the outline of him behind it.

 _"Pidgey is…evolving.",_ I thought.

The flash of light then began to dissipate and we were greeted by an elegant Pidgeotto.

"Alright, Pidgeotto.", I began, "Now show 'em what you really got!"

Pidgeotto then began to flap his now much larger wings and picked up a huge gust. The wind was so powerful that it sent the grunt's Ekans so far back that it hit the rock wall way at the other end of the area.

The Team Rocket grunt then ran after his Pokémon and I returned Pidgeotto to his Pokéball.

* * *

 _ **Thanks for reading! Follow/favorite for more! :))) -Jack**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Hey friends! I finished another chapter and I'm finally adding some deeper plot than just the storyline of the first Pokémon games, so get hyped! I will not be revealing anything yet about some of the deeper things than the Red X Green part of this story 'till later. I have high hopes for this story and I hope you do too! :) Please enjoy!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

 _The odd thing about the world that we live in is that, even though different regions are often relatively close to one another geographically, none of us know what goes on in those regions half the time. We don't recognize any of the Pokémon, we don't know what goes on in their Pokémon League, and we don't get any news about current events there, even if they are at the scale of apocalyptic._

 _Often times there are regions we have never even heard of. I mean, I didn't know the Hoenn region existed until I left on my Pokémon journey! And don't even get me started on my first trip to Unova when I was eighteen… Wow._

 _Anyways, it was always odd to see Pokémon from other regions when I was a kid. I had never seen a Plusle or a Minun anywhere in Kanto or even in any of Gramps's research, so it was pretty confusing when my Pokédex didn't know what to tell me when I first saw those Pokémon. Pokédexes are strange now that I think about it…_

 _The world is a very big place and it took me a very long time to realize that my journey wouldn't end with exploring Kanto. At least I wasn't alone by the time I got around to exploring the Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos regions. And I won't be alone for the region to come._

* * *

After battling the Team Rocket grunt I looked to my left and right. To my right was another route, Route 25, and to my left was a small area of grass next to the river that ran from Cerulean up through Route 25.

 _"Maybe I'll find another addition to my team here.",_ I thought. I entered the grass only to be immediately seen by a young Pokémon trainer.

"Hey!", the kid shouted, "Battle me! Not many people come over here!"

I battled the kid and defeated him without much trouble. He had a Rattata and an Ekans, which were pretty standard for weak trainers in the area.

I began to search the tall grass for some Pokémon. I kept on running into Pidgeys and bug-type Pokémon and almost gave up when I suddenly encountered a new Pokémon, Abra.

 _"Sweet! A psychic-type!",_ I thought. I then sent out my Squirtle and had him use bubblebeam to weaken the wild Pokémon.

I was about to reach into my bag and grab a Pokéball when the Abra vanished into thin air.

"Wha-?", I was speechless, "Where did it go?"

I decided that I would look around some more and try to find another. After encountering a few Caterpie and Pidgeys I found another Abra. I tried the same method as earlier and achieved the same results. The Abra yet again teleported away.

I finally decided that I would throw a Pokéball immediately the next time I saw an Abra. I looked for a much longer time that earlier. It seemed that they were all gone. Suddenly, after what felt like an hour of searching, I encountered another Abra.

I immediately threw a Pokéball and started praying that it didn't bust open. The Pokéball shook once, twice, three times, and finally clicked, showing that the Pokémon had been caught.

"Finally!", I shouted in excitement.

I checked my Pokédex to gain some more info on Abra. It turned out that the only move Abra would learn through leveling up was teleport.

 _"Are you serious?",_ I thought, _"There's no way that it can only learn teleport."_

I decided that I would just keep the Pokémon in my party so that it could take up a fourth slot and I could brag about having more Pokémon then Red the next time I would see him.

I left the grass and began to walk East. I entered a new area called Route 25. I could see that there were many trainers walking around in an area of bushes that were arranged in a maze-like formation. A lot of the trainers were youngsters, lasses, and picnickers, with a couple hikers mixed in.

I made my way through the maze, slowly defeating the trainers who inhabited it. They were all very easy to defeat.

The maze of bushes then led to an open area with two ponds and an area that looked over the sea. There was some couple that was standing in front of the pond closest to me babbling about some lovey-dovey gibberish.

 _"Barf.",_ I thought, _"Get a room."_

The guy then took the girl into his arms and looked into her eyes. She tilted her head up to meet his gaze.

"I love you.", the guy said to the girl.

"I…love you too.", the girl replied before her boyfriend leaned in and kissed her deeply.

I stood there gawking, unknowingly. Something about watching their romance unfold like that firsthand struck me at the core. I had never felt so attached to romance before seeing how much those two people loved each other.

I started to really miss my friendship with Red. For the first time since I left Pallet Town I realized how attached I still was to him.

 _"I can't go back now…",_ I thought, _"It would ruin my pride. And I can't be a Pokémon master with a friendship weighing me down."_

"Hey, what are you staring at!?", I heard a guy yell. I was brought to my senses and saw that the couple was looking at me, the guy angry.

"S-sorry.", I said, "I just got distracted."

"Well…", the guy began, "Our eyes did lock, so get ready for a Pokémon battle!"

 _"Ugh, Pokémon trainer logic is so weird…",_ I thought.

I sighed, "Fine, go Squirtle!"

My Squirtle then beamed out of his Pokéball.

"Wait!", the girl yelled at us, running up to her boyfriend, "I wanna battle too…with you…"

"Fine, then we'll have a double battle.", her boyfriend replied with determination.

"You gotta be kidding me.", I said, my spirits fading, "Two versus one?"

"You gotta have at least two Pokémon, don't you?", the guy replied, "A strong trainer like you should be able to handle battling with multiple Pokémon."

"But a trainer by himself won't be able to match the power that our bond has!", the girl shouted, "Go Plusle!"

A small, pink and white Pokémon with long ears and plus shapes on its cheeks came out onto the battlefield.

Before I had a chance to take my Pokédex out, her boyfriend sent out another similar-looking Pokémon.

It was a Minun. It was almost exactly the same as Plusle except that it was blue instead of pink and had minuses on its cheeks instead of plusses.

I took out my Pokédex to log the two Pokémon, but my Pokédex contained no information about the two Pokémon.

"Are we gonna battle or not?", the girl asked impatiently.

"Uh, yeah.", I responded distantly, "Go Rattata!"

Immediately the girl shouted at her Plusle, "Plusle, use thunderbolt on that Squirtle!"

"Minun, help her out!", the guy shouted. His Minun then started to clap its hands and cheer for the Plusle, raising her energy.

The Plusle then threw out a harsh thunderbolt which completely fried my Squirtle, causing him to faint.

 _"Crap, I didn't realize they were electric-types.",_ I thought, _"Their Pokémon are really strong…"_

I sent out my Pidgeotto and quickly got him to pair up with Rattata to try and take down one of the foe Pokémon as a team.

"Pidgeotto, use gust and Rattata, use quick attack on Plusle!", I shouted. Pidgeotto sent a strong gust at the Pokémon, who were barely affected by it. Rattata charged at the Plusle.

"Plusle, dodge it and use helping hand!", the girl shouted.

 _"What's that gonna do for her?",_ I thought.

"Minun, use thunder on Pidgeotto!", the guy shouted. His Minun sent out a huge blast of lightning, supercharged by the power of Plusle, at my Pidgeotto, causing him to immediately faint.

It was almost as if the girl knew what her boyfriend was gonna do before he did it.

My only Pokémon left was Abra. I sent him out in disgust because he only knew teleport.

"Oh, an Abra!", the girl said, getting really excited.

"This just got interesting.", the guy said with a smirk.

My stomach was in knots; I was getting ready for defeat.

"Rattata, use tackle on Minun!", I shouted, "Really let 'em have it!"

Rattata ran up to tackle the Minun. The guy opened his mouth as if to tell his Minun to do something, but the girl stopped him.

 _"Are…they trying to go easy on me?",_ I thought.

Rattata hit the Minun with all his might, but the Minun was barely even affected by it.

Everyone stood around doing nothing for a little bit.

"What?", I asked, agitated, "Are you gonna do something?"

They were quiet for a couple seconds until the guy smirked, "Minun, use thunderbolt on his Rattata."

The lightning came down on Rattata and caused him to faint.

"Now, let's see what this Abra can do.", he said, the smirk still on his face. He then waited on me to tell my Abra to do something, "Well, go ahead, use a move."

"…He only knows teleport…", I replied, embarrassed.

"Oh.", the guy replied, "Well, you know that you can use TMs to teach Abra more moves. As a base Pokémon, he won't learn anything other than teleport, but with TMs you can teach him more moves!"

"I know!", I snapped, irritated that he thought I was dumb enough to not know about TMs, "I just don't really think it's worth training a Pokémon that can't even use any worthwhile moves on its own."

"You would be surprised.", the girl replied, "Pokémon who start out in really weak phases often evolve into some of the strongest fighters we know. You should definitely give this Abra a chance."

The couple then returned their Pokémon to their Pokéballs.

"You aren't gonna pummel my Abra like you pummeled the rest of my Pokémon?", I questioned.

"No.", the girl replied.

"We would never fight a Pokémon who doesn't stand a chance.", the guy said.

"Well, why did you battle me?", I asked, "I clearly didn't stand a chance. Your Pokémon are clearly way stronger than mine."

"Actually, no.", the guy said.

"The truth is that the Pokémon we used are our weaker Pokémon.", the girl replied, "We use them in experimental battles with younger trainers."

"We are pretty experienced trainers, however.", the guy bragged.

"Well, not super experienced.", the girl said, "But we are some of the best trainers in our region. I mean, he-!"

The guy put his hand up, as if to keep the girl from saying something he didn't want her to.

 _"Odd…",_ I thought, _"What are they hiding?"_

"Wait.", I interrupted their argument that began a few seconds prior, "What region are you from?"

"Hoenn!", the girl said gleefully. Her boyfriend glared at her.

"May!", he yelled.

"Oh, hush!", she said, "He's not gonna figure out what we're up to just because we reveal our names!"

"Stop revealing vague information and causing suspicion!", he snapped.

"Wait, what are you up to?", I asked distrustfully.

"Oh, don't worry about that!", May replied, "Now, where are our manners? We haven't even introduced ourselves! I'm May and this is Brendan."

Brendan sighed.

Suddenly a memory clicked in my head, "Wait! You're from Hoenn! Who's Team Aqua?"

They both paused for a second and looked at each other.

"Should we tell him?", May asked.

"Absolutely not!", Brendan snapped.

"Look, I won't reveal any information that should be kept secret, alright!", she said.

Before Brendan got a chance to fight back, May began to tell me about Team Aqua. Apparently there were two teams in the Hoenn Region, Team Aqua and Team Magma who were working against each other. Team Aqua wanted to expand the sea and Team Magma wanted to expand the land. Yada, yada, legendary Pokémon, yada, yada, Hoenn lore, yada, yada, trainer saved the world by summoning some dragon, blah, blah, the end.

"That's cool and all…", I said, "But who was this 'trainer' who overcame Team Aqua _and_ Team Magma? It doesn't sound like something that one person could do."

"Well…", May began, Brendan looking at her intensely, "That's a story for another time."

"You show potential.", Brendan said out of the blue, "Just train your Pokémon effectively rather than harshly. I can tell that your Pokémon are being pushed very hard. Be sure to work with them rather than against them."

 _"…Maybe he's right…",_ I thought. He was, like, the _millionth_ person to tell me something like that.

"Oh wait!", May exclaimed, "We need to heal your Pokémon!"

May then took some equipment out of her bag and began to heal my Pokémon. The three of us chatted for a good twenty minutes before May was done healing my Pokémon. We then parted ways and I walked up to the house of Bill, the inventor of the Pokémon Storage System.

* * *

 _ **Thanks for reading! Follow/favorite for more! :))) -Jack**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**Hey friends! Here's another chapter to add to my story! I hope you'll be pleased to know that we're starting to get a little bit deeper into the emotional aspect to this story. I'll let you know that it's gonna slowly develop so that we can get the whole story of the first games in without it being too filled with drama. Enjoy!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

 _Ever since romance became an important thing to me, I always had the same romantic fantasy. I wanted to go out on a snowy night all all bundled up with someone I loved and go to Cerulean City._

 _After the rise and fall of Team Rocket, Cerulean became a truly beautiful city with tons of stuff to do. There were wonderful restaurants, tons of shops, and great sights to see, such as the view from Nugget Bridge._

 _That's where I wanted to propose to the person I loved as soon as I met them…_

 _It's December, only a couple weeks before Christmas, and I'm out in Cerulean with the love of my life. It's getting dark and we go out to eat in some fancy restaurant._

 _After eating we just walk around the city together. When we leave the restaurant there is a steady fall of snowflakes. We walk down the street in the snow and take in the beauty that is Cerulean City at Christmas._

 _The buildings have twinkling strands of Christmas lights, rooftops have a layer of snow, and there are garlands and artificial evergreen trees everywhere._

 _As we near the center of town, we notice the big Christmas tree in the square. It isn't lit quite yet because the sun has just set. We walk up close and wait for the tree to be lit. There are other couples around waiting as well._

 _After a few moments of waiting, the lights on the tree suddenly shimmer with light. It is completely stunning. The star on top is lighting the night sky up and all of the lights below cause the many metallic ornaments to glimmer._

 _After a few moments admiring the tree together, we leave the town square. We decide to go somewhere a little more secluded from the many other people in the city._

" _I know a good place that nobody goes.", I say._

" _Really, where?", they ask._

" _You'll see.", I reply with a smile._

 _I lead them to the northern portion of town and up to Nugget Bridge._

" _Nugget Bridge?", they ask, confused._

" _Trust me.", I respond, "This is one of the few sights I actually took the time to enjoy on my Pokémon journey, and you would be surprised how beautiful it actually is, especially on a snowy night like tonight."_

 _We walk up the steps and walk to the middle of the bridge. Looking out towards the East gives a great view of the sea._

" _Wow, I guess you were right.", they say._

" _I know I wasn't right a lot as a kid, but you should give me a chance every once in a while.", I joke._

 _The snow begins to fall harder and the snowflakes get larger._

" _Uh-oh, we might have to spend the night in Cerulean.", they say, "We'll have to get one of those lame hotel rooms at the Poké Center."_

 _It's now or never._

" _Well, we're gonna need to get a room 'cause I'm about to get all sorts of laid.", I joke._

" _Green!", they laugh, "What are you talking about?"_

 _I get down on one knee and take out a small ring box that I had hidden in my jacket pocket._

 _You can guess what happens next. However, this is a story for another time._

* * *

I knocked on the door to of Bill's house. There was no answer. I knocked once more.

"Hello?", I call, "Anyone home?"

I then heard some fumbling and the sound of books falling off a desk…I think…

Suddenly the door was opened and out came a guy not much older than I was at the time.

"Hi! I'm Bill!", he beamed. He seemed like some kind of klutz to me.

 _"Isn't this guy supposed to be some sort of genius or something?",_ I thought.

"You must be a trainer! Please, come in!", he then let me into his house.

The inside of Bill's house was filled with piles of books, research, and sketches for new inventions. There was also a desk with a computer and a large machine at the back of the room with two doors into pods which were connected by a large tube of wires.

 _"I guess he is a genius…",_ I thought.

"Please excuse the mess.", Bill began, "I just get so caught up in creating new machines and managing the Pokémon Storage System that I forget to clean up after myself."

"Clearly.", I said, amazed that a house could get that messy.

"So, is there a specific reason you came to visit my house?", Bill asked.

"Well, I was just travelling the area.", I replied, "I also caught word while battling the Pokémon trainers of Route 25 that your house was out this way and that you were the guy who developed the Pokémon Storage System. I figured it would be worth it to visit you."

"Hm…interesting…", he replied, "So you didn't come for the free S.S. Anne tickets?"

"The free what?", I asked.

"Well, I have two tickets for the S.S. Anne. It's a cruise liner that visits Kanto once a year.", Bill replied, "My family sent me two tickets so that I could go on a little vacation 'cause I'm a really busy person, but I just can't leave all of my work behind and the PSS can't run on its own."

"Okay, but how would I know that you have tickets to the S.S. Anne?", I asked.

"Well, information spreads like wildfire.", Bill laughed, "It is very hard to get tickets for the S.S. Anne. It's very expensive and the tickets sell out very quickly, so people will do anything to get their hands on them."

"So a bunch of people found out and now they're coming after you to get the tickets for themselves.", I stated.

"Exactly.", Bill sighed, "So you legitimately came here to learn about the PSS? Not for the tickets?"

"Yeah, I didn't even know about them.", I replied, "And why would I want them? I'm too busy with my Pokémon journey to take a year-long cruise."

Bill paused for a second, "Here. Take one."

I was confused, "W-why? I just told you that I don't wanna go on a cruise."

"I know.", he responded, "But there is a good amount of strong trainers on that ship. It would be a good idea to take them on before the ship leaves tomorrow at 6:00pm."

I stood there, still pretty confused.

"I really appreciate the fact that you want to pursue more knowledge.", he said, "Most trainers don't care about anything other than battling. I have no idea how skilled you are as a trainer, but I know that you want to know more about Pokémon than just battling."

"…Thanks…", I said, still taking in what he said, "Well, I should get going. If I want to get there early enough tomorrow, I'll have to get a good night of sleep and it's getting a little late."

"Thank you for visiting, uh, what's your name again?", Bill asked.

 _"Crap! I forgot to tell him my name!",_ I thought.

"Green.", I replied.

"Well, it was very good to meet you, Green! Please visit anytime!", Bill beamed.

I nodded and walked out of Bill's house.

As I walked further from Bill's house, I heard the sound of a large machine turn on. I continued walking.

I walked back through the maze of trainers. They all ignored my presence since I had already beaten them all in battle.

After a few minutes I made my way out of the maze and back into Route 24. I made a left and walked up the steps to Nugget Bridge.

I walked about halfway across the bridge and stopped. I noticed the sun setting over Mt. Moon to the West. The view was stunning.

 _"Wow…",_ I thought, _"Who would've thought that the view from Nugget Bridge could be so beautiful?"_

This was the first time I had ever stopped on my journey and took the time to enjoy the beauty of nature. I paused and let my mind wander while I took in the sight.

 _"Maybe it was a mistake to let Red go…",_ I thought. Thinking about Red made my heart ache. I had never felt so alone in my life.

 _"Maybe I should…apologize the next time I see him…",_ I thought.

 _"No!",_ I snapped at myself, _"I need to focus on my quest. Red is my rival now and I can't be friend with him and risk becoming soft."_

I took in a few more seconds of the beautiful sight and continued walking towards Cerulean City.

I reached the end of the bridge. As I walked down the steps I noticed someone who made my heart sink into my stomach.

"Red.", I said out loud.

"…", no response. No surprise there.

"You going to visit Bill?", I asked, regaining my usual snarkiness, "Well, you better hurry up. It's getting dark and he only has one more ticket for the S.S. Anne!"

Red looked confused.

"Yeah, I know you don't know what the S.S. Anne is.", I mocked, "But you better get a ticket or you won't be able to get in on the trainer battles it has to offer!"

Red looked determined and took a step forward.

"Woah, woah, woah! You didn't think you could get passed me without battling me first, did you?", I asked.

I then sent out my Rattata, engaging the battle before it even started.

There was something odd about Red. He seemed like he didn't want to battle me, like it was…awkward.

"What's the matter? Too scared you'll lose to my superior team?", I mocked.

Red finally let up and sent out his first Pokémon, a Butterfree.

"Really?", I scoffed, "You decided to waste your time on a worthless bug-type Pokémon? Rattata, use quick attack!"

Rattata immediately charged at Red's Butterfree and slammed it with a quick attack.

"Yes! Good job!", I was off to a good start.

Red's Butterfree looked at its trainer. It was as if the two of them were communicating telepathically, though I knew they weren't. Somehow Butterfree knew what Red wanted just by looking into his eyes.

It was oddly quiet for a second. Butterfree seemed to be unsure of what Red wanted it to do.

"What's wrong?", I called, "Your Pokémon doesn't wanna follow your orders?"

Butterfree then turned around and used gust. It stood no match to my Pidgeotto's gust, but that was probably just because it was a bug-type Pokémon.

"That's it!?", I mocked, "Rattata, use hyper fang and finish this worthless Pokémon!"

Red then looked up. I could see some anger in his eyes. What I said about his Pokémon must've struck a chord in him.

"Butterfree.", Red stated just loud enough for it to hear. It turned to look at him and he nodded.

Right as Rattata was about to attack the Butterfree, it flew up in the air and out of the way. It used gust once more, this time the winds were enough to cause Rattata to pick Rattata up and smash it against a nearby wall, causing him to faint in one hit.

 _"…How does he get a Butterfree to be so strong…?",_ I thought.

Now my head was really in the game, "Go Pidgeotto!"

Pidgeotto came out of his Pokéball, "Use gust and make it a big one!"

My Pokémon then used all of his might to pick up a gust as big as it could. He successfully sent the Butterfree flying, significantly weakening it.

Suddenly the Butterfree was enveloped in a red beam; Red had returned it to its Pokéball.

"Awe, come on!", I joked, "I was just about to take your Pokémon out!"

Red remained stoic and sent out another Pokémon. It was a Charmeleon.

I smirked, "So you Charmander already evolved, eh? Well let's see how it stands up against a water-type!"

I returned my Pidgeotto and sent out Squirtle.

"Squirtle, use water gun!", Squirtle sent out a stream of water that hit Red's Charmeleon right in the chest. It didn't seem to be as effective as I hoped it would.

Charmeleon then came back at Squirtle and used scratch, its starting move. I didn't think much of it until I saw how much larger Charmeleon's claws had become. Plus Squirtle was still just a little Pokémon.

Charmeleon's claws scraped deep into Squirtle's skin, causing him to shriek in pain.

"Come on, Squirtle! Hold it together and use water gun again! This time aim it at Charmeleon's tail!", I yelled. I remembered reading about how the Pokémon in the Charmander evolutionary line had weak spots in the flame at the tip of their tails.

Squirtle complied and sent a heavy stream of water at Charmeleon's tail. The Charmeleon was very weak and sent out a large ember as a last-ditch effort.

The ember was just enough to cause my Squirtle to faint just before Charmeleon collapsed to the ground.

"Come on, Squirtle…", I mumbled, "You're a water-type…"

I then sent Pidgeotto back out, "Come on, Pidgeotto. You can do this."

Red sent out his last Pokémon (other than Butterfree, who was significantly weakened), Pikachu.

 _"Crap, I forgot about Pikachu.",_ I thought, starting to get worried.

For the first time in the whole battle, Red's Pokémon went first. I was too distracted by my worry and Pidgeotto was fried by Pikachu's thunderbolt. He fainted immediately.

I was silent for a moment. I had been defeated once again, and something was kind of scary about the whole experience. Red completely killed my Pokémon, but it seemed like he was…going easy on me…

"Fine, you win…", I began, "…again…"

Red looked confused.

"Come on, don't act like you don't understand!", I snapped.

Red then looked down at my waist. I blushed.

 _"Why am I blushing?"_

"W-what are you looking at?", I asked nervously. I legitimately didn't know why Red was looking at…my crotch…

I finally noticed what Red was looking at when I realized that his Pikachu was still out, ready to battle.

"Oh, this thing?", I asked, picking up my fourth Pokéball, "You wouldn't wanna battle this Pokémon. It's way too strong for your Pokémon to handle!"

My attempt to scare (impress) Red didn't work and he insisted that I send my last Pokémon out.

I sighed, "Go…Abra…"

Abra then came out of its Pokéball. I waited for a few seconds, hoping that Red's Pokémon would go first. He waited for me to make the first move.

 _"Ugh, why did you have to pick today to go easy on me?",_ I thought. I never wanted to lose a Pokémon battle more in my life.

I sighed once more, "Abra, use teleport…"

Abra the disappeared into thin air. He was gone for a few seconds before returning to my side. He looked up at me and made a loving face.

Red didn't react and simply returned his Pikachu to its Pokéball.

I was completely mortified. Of course this had to happen…in front of Red.

"Whatever.", I snapped, "It's not like you're gonna beat me just because you won a few battles in the beginning."

Red, yet again, didn't react.

 _"Why doesn't he ever say anything!?",_ I thought. I then grabbed Red by his shirt and pulled him so his face was up to mine.

I didn't even know what I was doing; I was just so angry and I needed a way to show Red just how angry I was. Despite the fact that I removed him from my life…I needed him to care…

Red's eyes met mine. In the depths of his crimson eyes I could see exactly what he was saying.

 _"Why are you doing this to me?",_ his eyes asked, _"Please stop. I'm sorry for what I did."_

It freaked me out imagining Red apologizing. He had no reason to apologize, but he still looked apologetic.

I stood there holding Red at eye level for a few more moments. I came back to my senses and noticed Red's face. His eyes were an intense red, which I always admired. His cheeks looked very smooth and soft. His jawline looked a little bit more developed than I remembered last. He looked…mature.

 _"Look at yourself.",_ I thought, _"Red is even ahead of you when it comes to maturity. How can you rise above him if you resort to violence every time you get mad?"_

I let go of Red.

"I-…", I couldn't complete a statement. For the first time ever, I was unable to compose myself and find the will to throw a jab in.

I was suddenly enveloped in Red's arms. He was…hugging me… I felt strange; my stomach was filled with butterflies and my face was red-hot. I was so distracted by my strange feelings that I wasn't able to react to the hug. I didn't know if I should push Red away because it was weird or to hug him back. I was scared of the thought that I would…enjoy it…

After a couple of seconds, Red let me go and walked quickly up the steps to Nugget Bridge.

 _"He's…embarrassed.",_ I thought.

I stood there for a couple minutes. I was so confused about so many things. Like, why did Red hug me? Why was I confused about how to feel about it?

Either way, I eventually walked away to go back to the Pokémon Center for some _much_ needed rest.

After healing my Pokémon up, I went up to my room. The rooms in Cerulean were slightly larger than the ones in Pewter City. There was a queen-sized bed and a slightly larger bathroom.

I decided to lounge in the bath for a little while before going to bed. I thought for a long time about the events of that day, but quickly refocused when I started to think about the uncomfortable things that occurred.

After a little while, I got out of the bathtub, put on my underwear and laid in bed, falling asleep immediately.

* * *

 ** _Thanks for reading! Follow/favorite for more! :))) -Jack_**


	10. Chapter 10

_**Hey friends! Sorry that it's been so long since I've updated this story. D: I promise that you'll enjoy the direction this story is starting to take though! I'd also like to let you know that I have BIG plans for the future of this story, so please look forward to that! Enjoy!**_

 _ **This chapter was update on October 14th, 2015 due to the misspelling of "Vermilion".**_

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

 _As a kid, there was a point when my parents had to leave home for an extended period of time. I was told that they were going on a long business trip and that I wouldn't see them for a while._

 _We stood at the doorway to the house and said out goodbyes._

" _Bye Mom, Dad.", Daisy said, tears streaming down her face, "We'll see you soon."_

" _Don't worry honey.", Mom began, "We'll be back soon enough. Just stay strong and take care of your brother. You've grown into such a beautiful young woman and I'm so proud of your bravery in a time like this."_

" _Daisy, why are you making such a big deal?", I asked, "They're just going away for a little while. It's not like we'll never see them again."_

 _Daisy bit her lip, trying to hold back her tears, "You're right.", she said. It was odd that Daisy would let me mock her like that without getting mad at me._

" _Green.", Dad came up to me, "It's gonna be a while before you see me or your mom again. It could be years. Be here for your sister and make Mom and Dad proud. I know that you have the ability to be an amazing Pokémon trainer, just like the two of us."_

 _They then walked out of the door and waved us goodbye._

" _We'll see you soon, I promise.", Mom said._

" _Make us proud.", Dad said._

 _Daisy then shut the door._

" _I will.", I said._

… _They never came back…_

* * *

 _"Why are you avoiding the truth?", I heard a voice ask._

 _"I…don't know what you're talking about…", I mumbled._

 _"…", there was a long pause, "What are you so afraid of?"_

 _"What are you talking about!?", I shouted, "I'm not afraid of anything!"_

 _"Stop thinking about what others will think. Follow your heart.", the voice said._

 _"I seriously have no idea what you're talking about!", I yelled._

 _"Just tell him. I know you understand what I'm talking about.", the voice began to fade._

 _"Who are you!?", I was getting frustrated._

 _"…I already told you who I am…", the voice responded._

I woke up in a cold sweat. I squinted my eyes in the bright light that shone through the blinds.

 _"Ugh, what time is it?",_ I thought.

I checked the clock next to my bed. It was 12:00pm.

"Crap!", I exclaimed. I wanted to get up earlier so that I could make it to Vermilion in time to battle the trainers on the S.S. Anne.

I quickly jumped out of bed, got dressed, grabbed my stuff, and charged out of my room. As I passed the front desk at the Pokémon Center, I left my key and quickly left the building. I walked South towards the exit of Cerulean City. I noticed a bike shop and figured that I could travel faster with a bike, but they cost one-million Pokédollars each!

 _"Wow, what a scam.",_ I thought.

I reached the southern portion of town, but there was no way to co that way. It was filled with really high fences and small trees that were impossible to pass through.

 _"I need a Pokémon who knows cut.",_ I thought, but I didn't have enough time to find the HM. I followed the fence around town to see if there would be an opening somewhere else that I could get through, but it just led to a house in the Northeast portion of town.

 _"Why would they make a town that you can't escape from?",_ I thought.

I kicked the fence in frustration. A woman then came out of the nearby house having heard me kick the fence.

"Oh, are you trying to leave Cerulean?", she asked, surprisingly politely.

"Uh, yeah.", I replied, "Sorry about kicking the fence."

"You're just frustrated.", she said with a smile, "You aren't the first trainer who couldn't find a way out of town. Please, come in."

I walked into the house and was greeted with the woman's husband and her son.

"Hello.", the husband said, "What's your name?"

"Green.", I replied. I was beginning to get a little bit antsy. I wanted to leave town ASAP.

"I just invited him in for a cup of tea.", the woman said, "He needs to leave town, but I figured that it would be nice for him to relax a bit. Doesn't he look tense to you?"

"Yes, he does.", the man replied, "Please, sit. We won't keep you too long."

 _"That's what I like to hear.",_ I thought before sitting down.

I had a cup of tea with the family and spoke with them for a few minutes before I decided to head out.

"Okay hun.", the woman said, "There is a gate to the left of the house. Nobody notices it because it's pretty hidden. It leads to the path that can take you East towards Lavender town or South towards Saffron City. I'm assuming you're going to the S.S. Anne?"

I nodded in response.

"Okay, you'll wanna head South, go through Saffron City, and continue until you reach Vermillion.", she replied, "Take care!"

"Thank you.", I responded before leaving.

I walked over to the left side of the house and found a gate in the fence. I walked through and walked around the path until I was heading South.

 _"Finally!",_ I thought.

After a few minutes I was finally at the entrance to Route 5.

Out of nowhere I heard a crash in the distance. I turned around and saw that the house I was just at had police officers surrounding it. I could also see what looked like Team Rocket members escaping through the back of the house.

I wanted to go back and help, but I really needed to be heading out. I didn't want to miss the ship.

 _"The police are there. They'll help.",_ I rationalized.

I continued walking South, away from the chaos that just unfolded in Cerulean City.

Route 5 was very basic. I was just a steady hill with a single building on it, the Pokémon Daycare. I would come back to see what that was about later.

I reached a building that was the entrance to Saffron City. I walked in and started to walk through the room to enter Saffron City.

I was stopped by the security guard.

"So…thirsty…", he groaned, "Please, bring me something to drink and I'll let you through."

"Are you serious!?", I shouted, "I need to go through Saffron to get to Vermilion!"

"Underground Tunnel…", he mumbled.

 _"Underground Tunnel?",_ I thought, _"Maybe there's one outside…"_

I left the building and looked around outside. Sure enough, there was a building that I completely missed earlier. I walked up to it and read the sign. It read "Underground Tunnel".

I walked in went down the stairs. I was then in a long tunnel. I quickly walked through it, trying my best to make it to Vermilion as soon as possible.

About halfway through the tunnel I noticed that someone dropped something on the ground. It was a strange-looking object, but I knew exactly what it was.

"An experience share.", I said out loud. I picked it up and immediately gave it to Abra. Now he would be able to gain experience from battles that he wasn't in. It was exactly what I needed to train him.

I walked for a few more minutes before I eventually reached the next set of stairs. I walked up and exited the building.

I walked out of the building and into the sunlight. I checked a nearby sign to see where I was. "Route 6", the sign read. I looked around Route 6 and noticed that this route was larger than Route 5 and had a good amount of trainers in it.

I was slightly irritated when I noticed how long it was gonna take to get through that route, but at least there were trainers to battle.

I began to battle the trainers of the route. They were a little bit stronger than trainers in the past, but still not too much of a challenge.

Abra was steadily gaining experience with the experience share and Rattata was proving to be a really strong team member. Rattata was probably one of my favorite Pokémon at that point. He was intense and pretty rash. I liked him a lot because I could relate to him.

I had defeated many trainers in the route at this point. I had walked around the small lake in the middle of the area and was at the southern-most portion. There was one more trainer to battle before I would enter Vermilion City.

A young camper caught sight of me and stopped me, the usual procedure. He challenged me to a battle and quickly sent out a Spearow.

I smirked; I had been on a roll. I then sent out Rattata, my best Pokémon.

"Rattata, quick, use quick attack!", I called before the kid got a chance to react. Rattata ran very quickly up to the Spearow and land a quick attack dead in the center of its chest. Even I was stunned by how quick Rattata was on his feet at this point.

The foe Spearow was unable to regain its balance. It wobbled around for a little bit before falling to the ground. Rattata had taken it out in one shot.

"Good job Rattata!", I shouted, "I'm proud of you!"

 _"I'm so…proud…",_ I thought. That was the first time I had ever told any of my Pokémon that I was proud of them. I felt like the worst person, _"My Pokémon…must hate me…"_

The other trainer sent out a Raticate, but I couldn't focus on the battle enough to regain my composure. I just watched as my Rattata was hit with multiple attacks from the Raticate.

Suddenly, I was brought back to my senses when Rattata started to glow.

"He's…evolving!?", I yelled out loud. The light, more blinding than the light that appeared as my other Pokémon evolved, slowly began to fade until out came a Raticate.

I finally regained my will to battle, "Raticate, use hyper fang!"

Raticate ran up to the other Pokémon and slammed its jaws shut, jutting its fangs into its skin. The opposing Raticate screamed in pain.

"Put it out of its misery!", I yelled. My Raticate then picked up the foe with his teeth and slammed it to the ground, taking it out.

Raticate then ran back up to me to go back to his Pokéball.

"Good job, Raticate!", I praised. I decided that I would praise my Pokémon from then on for their victories.

I then returned Raticate to his ball and walked into the next stop on my journey, Vermilion City.

* * *

 _ **Thanks for reading! Favorite/follow for more! :))) -Jack**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**Hey friends! Are you ready for some drama to unfold!? 'Cause I sure am! We're finally getting into some deep shit with this story. And I decided to write a new chapter ASAP this time because the last one was so late! Please enjoy! :)**_

 _ **This chapter was updated on October 14th, 2015 due to the misspelling of "Vermilion".**_

* * *

 **Chapter 11**

 _People never understood why I was so attached to my Raticate as a kid. If you knew me and Raticate both at the same time you would see that we were both two halves of the same whole._

 _Raticate was a rash, misunderstood Pokémon._

 _Young Green was (and still kinda is) a rash, misunderstood human._

 _When people ask me why I was so attached to Raticate, I tell them that it's the same thing as Red's attachment to me. I'm a rash, rotten brat, but Red always loved me for it nonetheless and I always felt the same way about Raticate._

 _It just sucks that it took me so long to understand that myself. I spent so much time thinking I wasn't worth the time of my best friend._

 _I spent too much time thinking that I was…the reason Red left…_

* * *

I walked into Vermilion City with confidence. I hadn't felt this great since the moment I left Pallet Town to begin my journey. This time was different, however. My favorite Pokémon evolved, I learned how to properly respect my teammates, and I just knew that I had the next battle with Red in the bag.

I looked to the South and could see the S.S. Anne in the distance. I checked my watch. It was 2:00pm.

 _"Great timing!",_ I thought. The ship wouldn't leave until 6:00pm, so I had plenty of time to prepare before I boarded.

The first thing I did was go to the Pokémon Center. I healed up my Pokémon and got a room for the night. I would be there for a while, considering that I had the S.S. Anne to take on along with the next Pokémon gym.

I then left the Pokémon Center, bought some supplies at the Pokémart, and progressed towards the S.S. Anne.

As I neared the docks, I began to smell the salty scent of the sea and felt the calm breeze coming in from the South. It was refreshing.

I began to walk on the wooden dock that lead to the S.S. Anne. The path took a couple of turns before I reached a sailor who was in charge of checking everyone's tickets.

"Hey, can I see your ticket, please?", he asked. I handed him my ticket and he punched a hole in it before giving it back.

"Thanks, have a great trip!", he replied.

"Thanks, I will.", I said, even though I was just here for the trainers.

I walked forward and up to the large cruise ship. There was a ramp that lead onto the ship. I walked up it and entered.

The first level of the ship was filled with cabins for people to sleep in. I figured that I might as well check them out even though I wouldn't be staying the night.

I walked into the cabin directly ahead. I was startled when I got to the other side of the door and realized that some old dude was standing in the room.

"Ah! I'm sorry, I'll just leave now!", I panicked. I completely forgot that people would be in their rooms.

The man looked at me for a sec then grinned, "You're a Pokémon trainer, aren't you?"

I nodded my head in response.

His grin deepened, "Then I'll forgive you…if you defeat me in battle!"

I began to get nervous. I was no match for someone his age. He was probably an expert.

"Go Growlithe!", he shouted, sending out a Pokémon I hadn't seen before. I was a small, dog-like Pokémon. It was orange with black stripes and had a lot of fur.

" _He's so cute!",_ I thought. I almost never gape over Pokémon for their cuteness, but Growlithe was an exception.

"Do you accept my challenge, son?", the man asked, pulling me back to my senses.

I smirked, "I never back down from a challenge to battle! Go Squirtle!"

Squirtle came out of his Pokéball, ready to battle. He hadn't gotten a lot of chances to battle since I last battled Red, so I figured that taking out a fire-type Pokémon was just what he needed to catch up.

"Squirtle, use water pulse!", I commanded. A heavy stream of pulsating water gushed at the Growlithe, who was heavily damaged.

" _Perfect!",_ I thought. I knew he had to be a fire-type Pokémon.

"Growlithe, use fire wheel!", the man shouted. A wheel of flames hit Squirtle dead-on. He was hurt, but not very much.

" _Why would an experienced trainer use that move on a water-type Pokémon?",_ I thought, confused.

"Squirtle, use bubblebeam and make this the finishing blow!", I yelled. Squirtle sent a heavy stream of bubbles at the opposing Pokémon. They hit Growlithe and caused steam to fill the room.

After a few seconds the steam cleared and Growlithe was on the ground, passed out.

"Yes!", I cheered, "Good job Squirtle!"

Squirtle then began to glow. It was his turn to evolve, finally.

The glow began to gain intensity before fading out. Out of the light emerged a beautiful Wartortle.

The two of us, trainer and Pokémon, stood with determination, ready to take on the man's other Pokémon.

The man smiled, "I forfeit."

"You…what!?", I was startled, "Why? An experienced trainer like you should be able to take me on!"

"I battle for pleasure, son.", the man replied, the smile remaining on his face, "You and your Pokémon share a very special bond. Go forth and share that bond with the world."

I was still confused why he wouldn't just finish battling me.

"Look, my other Pokémon was another Growlithe. He would've been toast.", he laughed, "Just go ahead and continue on your journey. I can tell that you'll be a very talented trainer someday."

I returned Wartortle to his Pokéball, thanked the man, and left the room.

I continued exploring the ship, battling many strong trainers along the way. The amount of trainers on the ship was insane. They were in the rooms, the halls, the ship deck, and even in the kitchen.

After what seemed like hours of battling, I had defeated every trainer on the S.S. Anne. I reached a final stairwell on the second floor of the ship that apparently led to the captain's quarters. Many people in the areas below told me that I would receive a hidden move from him if I proved my worth.

Without further delay, I went up the stairs and into the captain's quarters.

I walked in and saw a man sitting at his desk. His face was pale and flushed.

"Woah, you don't look so hot.", I said.

"Ah, it's just a bit of seasickness.", he replied, "Nothin' to be concerned with. You look like a trainer. Did you come to receive an HM from me?"

"Yeah…", I replied.

" _How can you be a ship captain if you get seasick before you even disembark?",_ I thought.

"Alright, here you are.", he said, getting up and handing me a disk, "This 'ere is cut. You can use it to cut down trees that are in your way outside of battle. It ain't that great a move though, in all honestly…"

"Thanks, sir!", I beamed.

The captain's stomach then began to lurch and he covered his mouth.

" _Shit, he's gonna barf!",_ I thought. I quickly walked out of the room as he hung his head over the nearby trash can. I didn't wanna stay to see what happened next…

I walked down the stairs and into the hall below. It was about time I left the S.S. Anne and took on the next Pokémon gym.

I took two steps forward and was suddenly met by a red streak that rounded the corner. I smirked.

"Bonjour, Red!", I said gracefully.

"…?", Red looked at me in confusion.

" _Come on, Green! Bonjour!?",_ I cursed at myself, _"Are you trying to impress him with your French or something?"_

"A-anyways…", I cringed, "There's some old dude upstairs who will give you the hidden move cut if you talk to him, but he's kinda…barfing right now…so…"

I was distracted by Red's gaze. Something about the way he was looking at me was odd. Every time we made eye contact he would quickly dart his eyes in the other direction and…blush?

I was having way too good of a day to let this distract me, "Anyways, I'm not gonna let you win this time!", I stated, "My team is way to good to lose to the likes of you again!"

I then sent out my first Pokémon, Pidgeotto. A classic start to my battles with Red.

Red quietly sent out his Pikachu.

" _Come on.",_ I thought, _"You can do this, Pidgeotto."_

"Pidgeotto, use quick attack!", I shouted quickly, knowing that Red's Pikachu could be a death-sentence to my Pidgeotto. My Pokémon quickly charged at Pikachu and hit it right in the stomach, a pretty hard hit.

Red and his Pikachu exchanged looks. Red nodded and his Pikachu quickly turned towards my Pidgeotto and sent a thunderbolt his way.

Pidgeotto was hit very hard, but he held on.

"Okay, use gust! Don't let a hard hit like that make you lose focus!", I encouraged him. My Pokémon then flapped his wings, sending a gust at the foe Pikachu, sending it flying towards the nearby wall.

Both Pokémon were now significantly weakened. Red's Pikachu regained his bearings and planted both feet firmly on the ground.

" _He's gonna go in for a quick attack.",_ I thought.

"Pidgeotto, hurry and use quick attack!", I yelled. Both Pokémon darted towards each other and ran right into one another.

Both Pokémon ended up fainting.

"Good job, Pidgeotto.", I said, returning him to his Pokéball.

I then sent out Raticate, my trusty ally, and Red sent out his Charmeleon.

"Raticate, use hyper fang!", I shouted. He lunged at Red's Charmeleon. Charmeleon attempted to dodge, but Raticate was one step ahead of him, countering the dodge and lunging at him once more, this time successfully digging his teeth into the Charmeleon's skin.

Charmeleon began to get very agitated. He grabbed Raticate and threw him at the ground before sending out a fury of blue flames. He was using dragon rage.

"Raticate!", I yelled, "Get your bearings and get the hell out of there!"

Raticate tried once to get up but ended up falling on the ground again. Charmeleon was not holding back at all.

"Stop!", I yelled, "You're gonna kill him!"

I looked at Red, who looked just as afraid as I did.

"Raticate, return!", I yelled, commanding Raticate to return to his Pokéball. The red stream of light from my Pokéball enveloped Raticate and he was returned to his ball.

"What the hell is wrong with that thing!?", I exclaimed.

Charmeleon turned around and looked at Red, who gave him a look of disapproval.

" _Are his Pokémon really so powerful that he has to train them by teaching them how to properly hone their powers?",_ I thought.

"Well, either way, he doesn't stand a chance against Wartortle!", I yelled before sending out the water Pokémon, "Wartortle, use water pulse!"

Wartortle entered the field and immediately sent a heavy stream of water at Charmeleon.

"Keep it going until he's done!", I shouted, "Show him how Raticate feels right now!"

Wartortle kept the water coming. I had no intention of having him stop. I was so pissed off that Red would let his Pokémon do something like that to mine.

Eventually Charmeleon collapsed to the ground, but I didn't have my Pokémon let up. I wanted him to feel the full wrath of what he had done.

I looked up at Red and saw a look of pure terror. He was terrified at what I was doing. My stomach dropped and I felt my entire being completely ripped to shreds.

"W-wartortle, that's enough.", I said, "You can stop now."

Wartortle stopped and Red returned his Pokémon to its ball.

" _Gee…",_ I thought, _"Only halfway through the battle too…"_

Red looked at me. His eyes were hard and cold. He wasn't angry, but instead determined. He chose right then to take things seriously. He threw a Pokéball out on the field and out came the most terrifying Pokémon I had yet to see, a massive, menacing Gyarados.

Even Wartortle looked like he was gonna shit himself. This Pokémon was completely terrifying.

"Wartortle, don't let his appearance get to you!", I shouted, "Use rapid spin and give him a piece of you!"

Even though he was scared, Wartortle pulled through and gave the foe a fairly decent rapid spin. However, it didn't do much to the dragon that stood before him.

Red looked at Gyarados and gave him a nod. The dragon then began to thrash around. It went into a state of rage and started slamming Wartortle around, significantly damaging him in the process. Eventually the foe calmed down a bit to rest.

Wartortle wasn't looking so hot, but I attempted to get him to fight anyways, "Use bubbleb-!", I commanded, but Wartortle fell to the ground before I got a chance to finish.

Now I was in a bit of a tight spot. I didn't know if I should send in Abra or Raticate. Raticate was significantly damaged and wouldn't be able to do anything to Red's Gyarados, however, Abra wouldn't stand a chance either.

" _Well, Raticate has had a chance to rest a bit.",_ I reasoned, _"And Red is pretty pissed, so he'll probably destroy my Abra without a second thought this time around."_

"Go…Raticate!", I shouted. Raticate came out of his ball barely able to stand.

" _Uh-oh… This isn't looking too good.",_ I thought.

Red's Gyarados didn't look back at Red for permission to attack. He was so enraged that he started to thrash Raticate around without mercy.

I looked at Red who looked completely shocked. It was as if he hadn't realized how powerful Gyarados could be. He quickly took out a Pokéball and returned it. In the middle of the battlefield was Raticate, covered in blood, unconscious. He was a complete mess, barely clinging on. I returned him to his Pokéball and sent out Abra without a second thought.

Red was completely shocked that I still wanted to battle.

"Come on, send it back out!", I shouted, enraged, "This battle isn't over until I say it is!"

Red paused before sending Gyarados back out. He scolded the dragon, who actually looked apologetic.

Everything was silent for a moment.

"Come on, Abra.", I said, "You must've learned something new with all the experience you've gained."

Abra looked back at me, confused.

I looked up at Red, "…I…believe in you…"

Abra suddenly had a shallow purple glow around himself. The glow then surrounded Gyarados who started to shout in pain.

" _Abra learned confusion…",_ I thought.

Abra was then surrounded by the classic bright light that surrounds Pokémon when they evolve. He came out of the light as a Kadabra.

"Yes!", I shouted, forgetting momentarily about the events that had just transpired moments ago.

Gyarados then lunged forward and slammed its jaws around Kadabra, who passed out on impact.

" _I guess that's the price I have to pay for using an experience share…",_ I thought.

My thoughts were instantly brought back to Raticate.

"Oh no…", I said out loud, "I need to go to a Pokémon Center now!"

I started to cry uncontrollably out of nowhere. I knew deep down that Raticate was not okay.

Red walked up to me and tried to apologize. He put his hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes.

"I'm…sorry…", he said, a single tear running down his face.

"Get away from me!", I snapped, "Your Pokémon are completely insane! I knew I shouldn't be friends with you anymore!"

I tore myself away from his grip and ran away to get Raticate to the Pokémon Center.

" _Please…don't die…"_

* * *

 ** _Thanks for reading! Follow/favorite for more! :))) -Jack_**


	12. Chapter 12

_**Hey friends! I'm so sorry that this chapter took so long! I just had a lot to do this past week and I just forgot about this story for a little while. Either way, I hope you enjoy this chapter!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

 _Years before I started my Pokémon journey, war broke out in the Kanto region._

 _It first began with a strange group appearing. These people advocated to outlaw people from capturing Pokémon for their use in battles._

 _Modern Pokéballs were first released a few years before I was born in the Kalos region. They were a revolution due to the fact that they were inexpensive and thus more effective in practical use._

 _When modern Pokéballs finally reached Kanto, human-Pokémon partnership was completely changed._

 _A disgruntled group of people began to form and protest in big cities like Saffron and Celadon._

 _Eventually, the groups reached all the way across the region. It was at the point where half of the people living in Kanto were opposed to capturing Pokémon._

 _The protests began to turn into full-on riots. People were being trampled, buildings were destroyed, and communities fell apart._

 _The people who were fine with capturing Pokémon with Pokéballs then started to fight back. They would start their own protests._

 _Riots began to get more violent. The original protestors would show up and start attacking people._

 _A climactic point in the protests was when the whole region was separated by a diagonal line to prevent any more riots. The line kept people who were opposed to Pokéballs in Cerulean City, Lavender Town, Vermillion City, and Saffron City and kept the others in Pewter City, Viridian City, Pallet Town, Fuchsia City, Cinnabar Island, and Celadon City._

 _People were taken from their homes and left for safety in other parts of Kanto._

 _Some people were fine with this because it meant that their families were safe, but others were enraged; they had to leave their homes._

 _Tensions began to build. The two big cities, which are basically one big city because they are so close to one another, were now opponents._

 _Things were relatively calm until a year after the lines were drawn. The people running the government on the Saffron side of Kanto declared their half of the region as their own separate region, the Fiore region._

 _The people of the Celadon side of Kanto were enraged about this. They wanted Kanto to remain as one region, whether or not they got their way on the matter._

 _Through a series of riots and attacks by extremists of each side, war began._

 _There were many pushes back and forth. The people of Fiore tried to take over Kanto and the people of Kanto pushed them back. It was a giant, bloody game of tug-of-war._

 _After a few years, the people of Kanto were able to push the people of Fiore into submission, making them sign a peace treaty. Pokéballs were made legal in Kanto and the Fiore region ceased to exist._

 _The people who felt strongly about "enslaving Pokémon" left the Kanto region. Apparently they built up their own region to the Northeast of Kanto, calling it the Fiore region once again. People say that they don't use Pokéballs there, but instead have a device that allows them to bond with Pokémon and use their abilities one time to overcome obstacles and that they don't have Pokémon battles like we do in Kanto._

* * *

I ran off the S.S. Anne without taking a second to look back. I needed to get to the Pokémon Center ASAP. Raticate was in terrible shape.

My mind was spinning. My thoughts were flooded by the image of Raticate's mangled body on the floor of the S.S. Anne hallway.

I wanted to blame Red, but I knew deep down that it wasn't his fault. If I were to blame anyone, it would have to be his Gyarados, but, oddly, I didn't want to blame anyone but myself. I shouldn't have put Raticate back out there like that. He was in terrible shape and I thought he could handle taking on a Gyarados just because I was too worried about embarrassing myself putting an Abra who only knew teleport out in battle.

I finally reached the Pokémon Center and ran inside.

"I need help!", I yelled, running up to Nurse Joy, "My Raticate is badly hurt! This is an emergency!"

"Okay, please come to this way.", Nurse Joy replied calmly. I followed her into a room in the back of the Pokémon Center, "Okay, let me see your Pokémon."

I let my Raticate out of his Pokéball onto the examination table. He looked awful. He was covered in bruises and was bleeding from everywhere.

Nurse Joy stared in horror for a few seconds and then sighed, "All right… It's a good thing you came to this Pokémon Center because we have a surgery wing."

 _"Surgery?",_ I thought. I began to get even more worried.

"I'm gonna bring your Raticate to the surgeon right away.", Nurse Joy began, "These injuries are very severe and need to be treated as soon as possible. This procedure is probably gonna take many hours, so you can either wait in the lobby or my suggestion would be to go out and get some fresh air, maybe explore a little bit."

"…Okay…", I replied, "Is…Raticate gonna be okay?"

Nurse Joy paused, "We'll do everything we can. I think he'll pull through."

I nodded and then left the room. Another nurse was at the desk, another Nurse Joy. I found it odd that they all looked exactly the same. I healed my remaining Pokémon with her and then left the building.

I came outside and sat down on a nearby bench to think. I considered challenging the Pokémon gym, but it didn't feel right to do with one of my team members fighting for his life in surgery.

I couldn't stand the thought of sitting around doing nothing, so I decided to go East and battle some of the trainers in Route 11.

Even without Raticate with me the trainers were pretty easy to defeat. After a couple hours I had swept every trainer in the field.

 _"Maybe I should just go ahead and challenge the gym in Vermilion.",_ I thought, " _Raticate wouldn't want me to sit around doing nothing. Plus he won't be able to battle for a while when he recovers from his injuries."_

So it was decided; I was gonna go ahead and challenge the Vermilion City gym without Raticate.

I went back into town and to the Pokémon Center. I healed my Pokémon and then asked how Raticate was doing.

"Your Pokémon is still in surgery, but I can run in and get an update if you'd like.", Nurse Joy said.

"No, that's alright.", I replied, "I'll just come back in a little bit and wait it out. For now I'm gonna go and challenge the gym here; it's what Raticate would've wanted."

Nurse Joy smiled sympathetically, "Good luck."

I walked to the Southern portion of town. The sun was going down and it would be night soon.

The Pokémon gym was on a small peninsula. There was a mess of vines on the ground. There must have been something blocking the way but someone had already taken it down.

I walked around to the front of the building and entered the gym.

Inside the gym were a bunch of trash cans, two electric barriers blocking the way to the gym leader, and a few trainers.

I first went through and battled all of the trainers. They were all relatively easy to defeat even though my team wasn't very resistant to electric-type Pokémon.

However, one thing stood out to me the whole time I was battling trainers. Almost all of them had Pikachus in their parties.

I was hoping that I would be able to challenge the gym and have some time to escape from all of the bad things currently happening in my life, but, of course, all that I was able to do was replay through the events that occurred earlier that day.

Seeing the Pikachus constantly reminded me of Red, and thinking of Red was a constant reminder of the battle that we had earlier.

Once I finished battling the trainers, I decided that, rather than trying to forget what happened earlier, I would use the memories to defeat the gym leader in honor of my fallen Pokémon, Raticate.

The next thing I had to do was figure out how to turn off the electric barriers. The answer was obviously something to do with the scattered trash cans, 'cause why else would they need that many?

I looked in the trash cans. Each of them was empty. I looked into a few trash cans until I found one that had a switch in the bottom of it. I reached in and flipped the switch, turning off one of the barriers. I then looked in a trash can right next to the one with a switch. There was nothing in it. Suddenly, the first barrier switched back on.

 _"Damn.",_ I thought, _"There must be some kind of sensor that detects when I look into the wrong trash can."_

I looked around once more. Eventually I found another trash can with a switch in it. I then looked into one of the trash cans adjacent to it and found another switch.

 _"Yes!",_ I thought before flipping the switch, successfully turning off the electric barriers.

I walked through the corridor that the barriers were blocking off and was met with a muscular man wearing an army getup.

"Hey kid, I'm Lt. Surge.", he said, "So, you've solved my puzzle and came to challenge me to a battle?"

"Yeah.", I replied, "And my team is gonna take you down!"

"We'll see about that.", he laughed, "Electric Pokémon saved my life in the war and they aren't gonna lose to some kid!"

 _"For Raticate!",_ I thought, "Go Wartortle!"

"Go Voltorb!", Lt. Surge shouted. I knew that Wartortle and Pidgeotto weren't very effective against electric-type Pokémon, but there was no way I would make Kadabra battle all three of Surge's Pokémon by himself, especially after seeing how dangerous pushing Pokémon too hard could be…

"Wartortle, use water pulse!", I shouted. Wartortle sent the pulse of water at the foe Voltorb, hitting it fairly hard.

"Voltorb, use shock wave!", Surge shouted. A wave of many small shocks of electricity hit Wartortle. At first I thought it was a joke because of how small a shock Wartortle received, but I soon realized that something was wrong when Wartortle's movement became discontinuous. He would stop moving for a moment and then be able to move a little bit after a few seconds.

 _"Paralysis.",_ I thought. I reached in my bag and grabbed a paralyze heal. However, before I got a chance to use it, Voltorb charged at Wartortle and slammed him with a tackle. I quickly used the paralyze heal on Wartortle and had him use rapid spin.

Wartortle pulled his head and limbs into his shell and begun to spin. Once he was spinning fast enough his shell charged forward and bashed into the foe Voltorb, taking it out.

"Impressive.", Lt. Surge said, "It isn't often you see a water-type Pokémon take out an electric-type, but your luck is about to change."

Surge then sent out a Pikachu.

 _"A Pikachu… Great.",_ I thought.

"Pikachu, use quick attack!", Surge commanded. The Pikachu charged towards Wartortle and hit him, sending him flying back. He landed on his side.

The whole world seemed to stop around me. I stared at Wartortle. I was suddenly brought back to the moment that I saw Raticate's mangled body on the ground of the S.S. Anne. He looked awful; he was covered in blood and bruises and was completely unconscious. I felt a new, bad feeling. Something wasn't right. There was no way that a Pokémon could go through trauma like that and still be…

"Hey, kid!", Surge called, "What's wrong with ya?"

I instantly regained focus, "Wartortle, get up now and use water pulse!"

He quickly got to his feet and sent a strong pulse of water at the foe Pikachu. The Pikachu was thoroughly damaged and wasn't able to regain its balance.

"Wartortle, hurry and take it out while it's confused!", I shouted. Wartortle ran forward and tackled the Pikachu hard, taking it out.

Lt. Surge returned his Pikachu and laughed a good bit, "I'm impressed that you were able to catch me off guard like that, but don't think I'll go easy on you anymore! Go Raichu!"

A large, electric mouse resembling a Pikachu came out of the Pokéball.

 _"Great.",_ I thought, _"A bigger Pikachu."_

"Wartortle, return!", I yelled, "Go Kadabra!"

"Raichu, use tackle!", Surge commanded.

"Dodge it and use confusion!", I yelled in response. Kadabra quickly got out of the way of Raichu's attack and used confusion. The Raichu began to cry out as Kadabra's psychic pursuit silently harmed him.

"Raichu, get it together and use quick attack!", Surge yelled with slight worry in his voice. Raichu then gained enough strength to push through the confusion for a moment and charge forward quickly, slamming into Kadabra with all his might.

Kadabra was hurt a good bit. He wasn't meant to be much of a physical fighter.

"Kadabra, you got this, use confusion again and really let 'em have it!", I commanded, but I was confused when Kadabra didn't make any movement, "Kadabra?"

Lt. Surge began to laugh, "Your Kadabra is paralyzed. My Raichu's ability is static, so physical contact with my Pokémon will make any other stop cold, unable to move! Now, Raichu, use thunderbolt!"

I braced myself for Kadabra's obvious demise. There was no way that he would be okay after that attack.

 _"No, please don't die on me…",_ I thought. After what happened to Raticate, all I could think about was keeping my Pokémon from experiencing something like that again, _"I need you to stay with me…"_

There was a long time where nothing was happening. Raichu should've knocked Kadabra out by that point, but he still wasn't moving.

"Wha-? What's going on!?", Surge exclaimed.

I smirked, "Raichu is paralyzed. Kadabra's ability is synchronize, so any status ailments passed onto him will be passed onto your Pokémon too!"

Surge looked dumbfounded for a second and then smirked, "Well, I'll be damned. Raichu, quickly get your bearings and hit this Pokémon with the best thunderbolt you got!"

I was startled by Surge's order and realized that I needed to get my head back in the game, "Kadabra, you need to use confusion now! Just give everything you got and think!"

Raichu began to struggle a little bit, trying to beat the paralysis, yet Kadabra remained completely still.

 _"Come on, Kadabra.",_ I thought, _"Do it for Raichu"_

Kadabra's eyes suddenly looked up at Raichu and started to glow blue. Raichu beat the paralysis and began to struggle under Kadabra's confusion.

 _"Yes! End it!",_ I thought.

Kadabra seemed to hear my thoughts and responded by increasing the power of his attack. After a few seconds Raichu fell to the ground and fainted.

 _"Enough.",_ I thought. Kadabra's eyes returned to normal and I returned him to his Pokéball.

"Well, kid, I gotta hand it to you.", Surge said, "That was probably the most exciting battle I've had in years!"

"I have that effect on people.", I bragged.

"Here, take the thunder badge.", he replied, "You've earned it. You're a strong kid, just like I was back in the day. You don't let things get in the way of the bond you share with your Pokémon. By the way, what is your name?"

"Green Oak.", I replied.

Surge's face suddenly fell, "Oak…", he fell silent for a moment.

"Professor Oak's grandson?", I questioned. I figured that he was just trying to fish for the name.

He paused for a second, "…Yeah, that's who I was thinking of…"

It was quiet for a minute. I didn't understand why he was so uncomfortable with the fact that I'm an Oak.

"Well, good luck on the rest of your journey. You'll go a long way.", he finally broke the silence.

"Thanks.", I said. I then left, filled with confusion.

I walked outside the gym. I looked at the expansive sea and saw that the sun was setting. It was beautiful to watch all of the yellow and orange reflecting off of the sea.

I started to think about Raticate.

 _"He's…gonna be fine…",_ I thought. I figured that I should probably go to the Pokémon Center to see how he was doing. I felt like a rock was in my stomach.

 _"Why am I so nervous? He's gonna be just fine.",_ I thought. I then began to walk towards the Pokémon Center, the sun setting behind me.

When I reached the Pokémon Center, the sun had set and night began. I walked into the building and up to the front desk.

Nurse Joy was waiting for me, "Hello Green. Could you please follow me?"

"Is Raticate okay?", I asked.

She paused for a second, "Please, follow me."

I heart sunk all the way down to my feet, "No, just tell me."

Nurse Joy was silent.

A tear began to run down my cheek, "Please, just tell me Raticate's okay."

"…I'm sorry...", she said.

* * *

 ** _Thanks for reading! Follow/favorite for more! :))) -Jack_**


End file.
